


Come So Far

by Jayjaykirschtein



Series: When I Grow Up [2]
Category: Ouran High School Host Club - All Media Types
Genre: Alcohol, Angst and Fluff and Smut, Recreational Drug Use, Underage Drug Use, darker and more mature than the last fic, everyone is kinda getting old now, lots of more realistic stuff that isnt always ourans usual fluffiness
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-09-18
Updated: 2017-11-02
Packaged: 2018-08-15 15:19:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Underage
Chapters: 3
Words: 31,576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8061547
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jayjaykirschtein/pseuds/Jayjaykirschtein
Summary: "I know we've come so far, but we've got so far to go." Ten years have passed since it changed back into a pumpkin. Twenty years have passed since it all began. Everyone's married. Everyone has kids. Everyone is happy. The kids are at Ouran now, though. So the happiness may not last as long as everyone hoped. After all, teenagers are scary and reckless creatures. You never know what they're gonna do or get into next.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> I couldn't bring myself to write any more filler with little kids, so I skipped ten years and put in a prologue to add in the rest of the kids that were born in between the end of the coma arc and the beginning of this fic. This is going to be a lot more mature and explicit in certain fields than the other fic was. I have aged along with my work so expect to see more mature themes and a lot of teenage bullshit. We all know that one person that does that one thing that everyone remembers. There's gonna be a lot of that big kinda thing happening. I hope you enjoy. The prologue is pretty short compared to what I have planned for the rest of the fic. This will be somewhere between 15-25 chapters. Enjoy!

It’s been a while. We all know it has. When the good ol’ days are done, they’re replaced with heartbreak, sex, drinking, marriage, and eventually screaming children. The days that were spent complaining about classes, parents, and bitchy high school enemies are cleared out to make room for days complaining about work, children, and how your best friend or brother or lover can’t kick his problem with alcoholism. Eventually everything starts to work out. Broken friendships are mended, bad habits are kicked, relationships blossom into marriage, and people you thought weren’t fit to take care of a goldfish end up being the best parents the world could offer.

_12 June 2023 - The third and final child of Rene Tamaki Richard de Grantine Suoh and Haruhi Suoh (nee Fujioka) is born. Tamaki finally convinced Haruhi to have another child, and they ended up adding another beautiful princess to the family. A tiny little girl with chestnut brown hair and chocolate brown eyes. She looks like her mother for sure, but she’s the spitting image of her maternal grandmother. Emilie Kotoko Suoh._

More children are born, pushing the glory days of teenage youth further and further behind us. Lisps go away and elementary crushes develop between children that only see eachother once or twice a year. Relationships are tested as parenting skills are questioned, but, at the end of the day, we all realize that we chose to spend the rest of our lives with these people for a reason: there is no one else out there that could drive us this crazy and get away with it. The last couple of the original gang to have kids realizes that maybe kids just aren’t for them, until they find their missing puzzle piece they didn’t even know they were missing. There are so many kids without homes, why not share their large home with someone who has none.

  _14 April 2024 - Hoshimi-Kira Haninozuka is born. She has honey blonde hair and sharp, dark Japanese features. Here ethnic origins are questionable, but she seems like she was meant to be adopted by the couple that gave her the name she sports for the rest of her life. 14 June 2024 Hoshimi-Kira Haninozuka was adopted and named by Mitsukuni Haninozuka and Reiko Haninozuka (nee Kanazuki)._

The days go by and everything seems to settle down. Everyone in the group is a parent, planned or not. Reality and maturity hits everyone like a brick when they realize that some of them are reaching an age where it isn’t completely ideal to have more kids. The most constantly growing family realizes it’s been on hiatus for much too long. Another pregnancy graces the family, this one much less strenuous and worrisome than the last. Eventually everyone in the friend group picks up the phrase “when isn’t she pregnant.” Jokes are made almost as often as children are, and the adults pass on their youthful traits to their children as they grow older.

_28 July 2024 - Sofia Morinozuka (nee Rivera) and her husband Takashi Morinozuka decide that they finally feel safe enough to have another child. The first few months are filled with extra caution and Takashi doting on his wife, anything to prevent the tragedy that almost befell them with Katsuo, who was now healthy and happy and as quiet as his father. In the early morning of July 28th, Sofia Morinozuka gives birth to a beautiful and healthy baby boy with her husband at her side. - Gabriel Morinozuka, with dark black hair and warm brown eyes, a perfect mix of his two parents, is born._

Time has flown. The couple that everyone expected to crack under the pressure of parenting is given the most hyperactive, vibrant, loud, and rebellious child of all. Somehow they pass the test with flying colors, making every other parent in the group seem like a whimp. Promises were made and promises are kept. But . . . sometimes, when you convince yourself for so long that you just want to have a child of your own - your own flesh and blood - you blind yourself to the other options. Sometimes a friend helps you realize that your child is your child, whether they share your DNA or not. Sometimes you change your mind and reword what you were promised. Sometimes you decided that your missing puzzle piece is already out there. And it is.

  _1 November 2025 - Before their son’s second birthday, Hikaru Hitachiin-diLazzaro brings up the promise he made to his husband Christian Marcello Hitachiin-diLazzaro. If they could handle their son Hibiki’s antics, they could take on the entire world. Christian takes back his initial request and suggests adoption instead. There are so many kids without homes, why not share their large home with someone who has none. 1 May 2025. A beautiful baby girl with big hazel eyes, sandy blonde hair, and olive skin was born, and a short month later, the papers were filed for her adoption. She looks like she could be his own, but she was a child with nowhere to go. He found his puzzle piece. - Niccola Hitachiin-diLazzaro was named and adopted by Christian Marcello Hitachiin-diLazzaro and his husband Hikaru Hitachiin-diLazzaro. Their son now has a baby sister. This rivaled his engagement for the best birthday gift Hikaru had ever given him, even if it was two days early._

 It’s been around two decades since it all began. Childish features and antics have left, but not permanently. Anyone could be expected to act like they were still in the host club at any given moment, especially when they were all brought together. The kids kept getting older and over-emotional parents couldn’t quite grasp the concept of aging, especially when it came to their appearances. Tattoos were purchased on spur-of-the-moment decisions as the youngest members of the group realized that they were seen as old as they once saw their parents. Careers advanced and families got busier with school, work, hobbies. Soon, every family was back in Japan, save the young and hip California dreamers. It wouldn’t surprise anyone if they spent the rest of their days on their private LA beachfront. In less than a year, the ever-growing family learned that they would be expanding once again. It was planned but not necessarily to start expanding again that soon. The two decided that this would be the last familial expansion when they learned that they were a little too fertile. Everyone always says to expect the unexpected.

  _5 July 2025 - Shortly after getting pregnant for the fifth time in her life, Sofia Morinozuka discovered just how fertile she and her husband Takashi were. She got huge with every pregnancy, especially considering her petite form, but she knew this was going to be the biggest she would ever get when the doctor congratulated her on her fifth pregnancy . . . with her fifth and sixth children. The pregnancy was fine other than general fatigue and more aching than ever before, but Takashi and Sofia decided that six children was enough to fill both of their extremely large hearts. - In the late late night of July 5th, 2025, Sofia Morinozuka, with Takashi once again by her side, gave birth to two beautiful baby girls. With identical straight black hair, dark dark eyes, and slightly tanned skin, Koemi and Naya Morinozuka were definitely their father’s daughters._

So time goes on and we all get older. Children are born, families move across the seas, and patience is tested in more ways than one. The thought of the kids being in the same position they were in so many years ago never crossed anyone’s mind. But here they are. Here the kids are. Another day. Another month. Another year. While they may not be in an obnoxious host club like most of their parents were, the kids are finally teenagers attending the elite Ouran Academy. Some in middle school, others in high school, and the youngest few of the bunch attend Ouran’s elementary school. Now the once King of the host club is the chairman of the academy, taking his father’s place after all this time. It’s been a while. We all know it has. . . _I know we’ve come so far, but we’ve got so far to go._

 


	2. Landslide

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Well, I've been afraid of changin'  
> 'Cause I've built my life around you  
> But time makes you bolder  
> Even children get older  
> And I'm getting older, too
> 
> -Landslide, Fleetwood Mac

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is all about "the talk" I guess. It's about the parents dealing with the fact that they now know what their children - who aren't children anymore - do in their spare time. And then it's all about how the teenagers deal with their parents making everything uncomfortable. 
> 
> -If you don't want awkward parental talks about sex and love and shit like that. Just message me and I'll send you a summary. Thanks! -

The sex, drugs, and rock n roll of the past is replaced with more sex, new drugs, and so many different music genres we’ve all lost count of them. When we heard the phrase “time flies,” none of us ever expected it to fly by so fast. So much has changed: fads, laws, social norms, even people. Time doesn’t actually change people, it matures them. But the maturing is so often mistaken for change. Sometimes adults don’t realize how much they have matured. Sometimes they don’t realize how fast their kids have matured either. 

 

So often, kids get lectured by their parents, and all they hear is “don’t do what we did.” Year after year kids hear the same speech and can’t help but wonder, “why are they so strict about that if they turned out fine?” 

 

It isn’t until the kids start growing up, experiencing life, and making mistakes that they realize why parents are so adamant about keeping the kids away from their youthful experiences. 

 

It isn’t until the kids fuck up themselves that they realize just how hard it was for their parents to get back on track.  _ Just. Don’t. Fuck. Up.  _

 

Everyone knows warnings are never heeded, though.  _ Teenage hormones are like time bombs that tick faster and faster without anyone noticing.  _

 

* * *

He sat under a tree in the large courtyard of the estate. The tree had been planted in the courtyard soon after they moved to Japan. Well, his parents were moving  _ back  _ to Japan. His two sisters and he were experiencing residence in the island nation for the first time. 

 

Studious. He had always been the studious, scholarly type. Second in his class, top class in the school. He sat with his dark hair brushing his forehead and the top of his undercut ever-so-slightly as a small breeze shaped this picture-perfect moment. His large square glasses, a fad that wove in and out of timelines, covered but somehow accentuated his strikingly vivid violet eyes as he read and annotated his newest reading assignment for school.

 

The tree was what completed the picturesque moment, though. Tall, strong, and still quite young, the maple tree he sat under shaded him perfectly and gave him his name. Well, his middle name at least. The maple tree he was using to support his back was similar to the one his parents got married under, the one in his childhood backyard. Nothing completed this moment more than a tree that had so much meaning attached to it. This was most definitely the dramatic trademark of the Suoh family. Everything had meaning.

 

Another trademark of the Suoh family was interrupting perfectly still and beautiful moments.

 

“Are you serious?” Akemi stood over her twin brother, blocking all of the natural light he was using, and frowned. “We just got that book assigned today, Ant. You can’t already be done with it.”

 

Antoine sighed and looked up at his sister. “I’m not completely finished yet. I have three chapters left.” He stood up and brushed off his uniform as Akemi moved out of the way. “And why does it matter to you? I do, and have always done this with every assignment since kindergarten.”

 

She shrugged and started to walk back inside with Antoine following her. “I don’t know. I was just thinking that maybe since it’s senior year, you and Zoe would finally loosen up and have fun. But I guess I was wrong.”

 

“Why do you still call it senior year? That’s more of an American thing. Technically we’re just third year’s.”

 

Akemi continued to walk back into the estate without turning to look at her twin. “Just because Mom’s from here and Dad went to highschool here, doesn’t mean that we are. We’re  _ from  _ America, Ant. In case you’ve forgotten.” 

 

“Whatever. It doesn’t matter.” 

 

Akemi stopped just before they got inside and turned to face Antoine. “And why are you still wearing your uniform? We’ve been out of class for hours.”

 

Before Antoine had a chance to answer, Akemi laughed and walked inside. “Oh yeah. I remember why now. It’s because you and your girlfriend are the biggest squares in the world. The only part about you that isn’t nerdy is your hair.”

 

“Hey! I am not a square! I play the guitar, remember? And I’m on the soccer team!” 

 

“Yeah but you’ve been playing soccer forever because Dad got you into it. And the guitar doesn’t count because all you do is play cheesy love songs for Zoe.” Akemi, without breaking her stride, walked into the kitchen and spoke her ever-so-blunt mind. “You and Zoe need to fuck. That would definitely loosen you up.”

 

Antoine went red-faced as he attempted to sputter out a response. The kitchen the twins walked into, however, was occupied at that moment by their two parents and ten year old sister. Haruhi and Emilie were practically unfazed. Tamaki, however, attempted to cover Emilie’s ears and gasped in shock. “Akemi Elise!”

 

Haruhi sighed as she leaned against one of the many kitchen countertops and went through the mail. “Really, Akemi? And in front of your sister? She’s only ten.”

 

Emilie spoke up as she continued her homework that she had just gotten to because of extra-curricular activities taking up her time. “It’s not like I haven’t heard her say it before.”

 

“That does not in any way make it okay!” Tamaki, still unnecessarily shocked by what Akemi said, looked back and forth between his two daughters. “That kind of language is unacceptable for a lady, Akemi.”

 

Akemi scoffed and moved to the fridge to grab a bottle of water. “Dad it’s 2033. Words are just words and gender roles are a thing of the past. I thought that after being married to Mom for this long, you’d get that.”

 

Haruhi turned to her daughter and spoke plainly. “You know what he means, Akemi. That kind of language is unnecessary and vulgar. And whether she’s heard you say it or not, you especially shouldn’t be saying things like that around your little sister. Or your father for that matter. You know he’ll never be able to handle any of that.”

 

After downing about half of the water bottle, Akemi brushed off her mother’s comments and looked around at the group again. “Okay yeah. I get it. But no one here is saying that my statement was wrong, right? C’mon even Ant know’s I’m right.”

 

Antoine who was still frozen in the doorway of the kitchen, finally regained his composure enough to reply to his sister. “C-can we like not talk about this? That would be very much appreciated, thanks!” And with that he left the kitchen and walked across the estate to his room.

 

Akemi turned back to her mother and shrugged. “I don’t know what his problem is. But really though. I’m not wrong am I?”

 

Tamaki crossed his arms and spoke sternly to his daughter. “None of my children need to be partaking in intimacy of any kind until marriage.”

 

Akemi crossed her arms just as her father did and raised one eyebrow. “Do you really expect us to listen to that crap when  _ everyone  _ knows that you and Mom did not follow that same rule?”

 

“What on Earth are you-”

 

Haruhi laughed and interrupted her husband. “C’mon. Everyone knows I was pregnant with them when we got married. Akemi has a point.”

 

“Neither of them could follow that rule even if they wanted to at this point.” Emilie spoke calmly and casually without looking up from her paper, interrupting the conversation at hand. 

 

As soon as Akemi realized what her little sister had said, blood rushed to her head so fast that she looked like a walking-talking-cherry tomato. “E-Emilie!” 

 

Haruhi turned to her other daughter, confused. Tamaki froze instantly, completely silent. “What was that, Emilie?”

 

The youngest Suoh looked up from her now finished homework. She looked back and forth between her two parents. “I know you two are very smart but you’re both a bit too idealistic to realize it. ( _ Emilie was, by far, the smartest girl her age. A mini genius.) _ ”

 

Tamaki cleared his throat as he regained enough composure to speak. “Realize what, exactly?”

 

Emilie looked her father directly in the eyes and replied with very little emotion. “Neither of them-”

 

“DON’T!” Akemi interrupted her sister aggressively, it was true for the more mundane things Akemi chose to confide in her sister because her twin was less than helpful most of the time. Not to mention that he was dating her best friend, so any small arguments had between Akemi and Zoe would result in Antoine taking his love’s side. But Akemi was almost completely certain that she had never once discussed the more intimate aspects of her life with her ten year old sister. The girl may be only ten, but she was wise beyond her years. That still did not explain how she knew about all of this. Akemi had to stop the spark before it started a fire. “Emilie don’t you dare.”

 

She turned to look at her older sister and sighed. Emilie was often exasperated by her siblings ignorance. Everyone knew that when she started to explain something, it would take an army, or a whole lot of duct tape, to get Emilie to shut up. There was no way she was letting her insufferable siblings out of this one. “You’re the one who brought it up in the first place. And they would’ve found out sooner or later.”

 

Haruhi realized what Emilie was talking about and sighed. “Do we really have to talk about this?”

 

“Talk about what? Emilie, keep going.” Tamaki was still oblivious to the context of the conversation. 

 

Emilie shrugged and finished her statement. “Antoine and Akemi aren’t virgins. I thought it was pretty obvious at this point, but I guess not.”

 

_ Death was upon him. His babies were all grown up. This wasn’t supposed to happen this fast. His precious twins were fornicators. But then again, he was technically a fornicator as well. His children in question were the direct result of unprotected fornication. But he was much older when that happened. His beloved twins are only seventeen years old. He was well into his twenties when they were conceived.  _

 

“ _ Tamaki . . . Tamaki. Tamaki!”  _ Haruhi was waving her hand in front of her husband’s face until he finally snapped out of his trance. Everyone else was gone. The only ones left in the large kitchen were husband and wife. “Are you alright? You were out of it for at least ten minutes.”

 

Without looking at his wife, Tamaki muttered his thoughts. “I can’t believe it. Our babies. Our little prince and princess.”

 

“Yes I know. They have both had sex. And they both still do. I’m not elated either, but there’s nothing we can do about it. We just have to make sure that they are being smart and safe about it. Because God knows we weren’t.”

 

“But we were fully grown adults when that happened! They’re still just kids! They’re still in school!”

 

Haruhi sighed and sat down next to Tamaki. “Do you remember when we first had sex?”

 

“It was more intimate than just ‘having sex.’ I prefer to call it making love because we were and still are in love.”

 

“Tamaki.”

 

“Of course I remember it. What does that have to do with anything right now?” He turned to face Haruhi directly and frowned.

 

Without pausing, Haruhi threw out another question. “How old were we?”

 

“Haruhi darling what does-”

 

She interrupted Tamaki and repeated herself, this time with more purpose. “How. Old. Were. We.”

 

“You were eighteen and I was nineteen.”

 

“And how old are Antoine and Akemi.”

 

Tamaki sighed. “They’ll be eighteen in a few months.”

 

Haruhi nodded and continued. “So it isn’t fair for us to be so hard on them when we weren’t that much older when we first had sex.”

 

Tamaki went silent for a minute after his wife spoke. She had a point, he just didn’t want to accept that she was right. He had always wanted a family, and although the start of it had been tough, parenting his children had made him happier than almost anything in his entire life. Almost. He did marry Haruhi, of course. So that was probably just as important if not more so. But this was all so sudden. He feels like an old man when he thinks of the whole  _ it feels like just yesterday  _ phrase. But it really did feel like he was having a mental breakdown over Akemi getting her head stuck in the stairs again. Everything was moving along far too quickly. “It’s just . . . They’re not our babies anymore, are they?”

 

She smiled and leaned against her husband’s shoulder. “They will always be our babies, Tamaki. They still tend to act like babies about a lot of things. They’re just . . . growing up now.” Haruhi paused and scooted her bar stool closer to Tamaki so that she could lean into him more. “And you know what that means.”

 

“Don’t say it.”

 

“That means we’re-”

 

“No.”

 

“-getting old.”

 

Haruhi laughed as Tamaki began to ramble on, pulling her closer as he spoke. “No. That is most definitely not true. We are in our prime. We are still in our twenties, living in Boston. We just got married yesterday. We are still spontaneous and trendy and make love all the time. Life is great and we are young and gorgeous.”

 

“Well that last part is still true.”

 

“Of course it is. I know for a fact that we will be young and gorgeous forever. That’s why I married you.”

 

“I meant the sex, Tamaki.” She laughed and leaned up to kiss Tamaki on the cheek as his face flushed bright red. For a grown man with three children and a still fairly overactive libido, Tamaki got embarrassed quite easily. “And I know we’re still gorgeous. Well, you still are, at least. But we are definitely not young anymore, Tamaki. We both know that.” She paused for a split second before smirking and speaking up again. “And I know for a fact you didn’t just marry me for my looks. That was like icing on the cake for you.”

 

Tamaki sighed dramatically and sprawled across Haruhi’s lap, careful not to fall off the bar stool. “I don’t like the word ‘ _ old.’  _ It sounds so . . . bleh. Why don’t we say we’re perfectly aged. Like fine wine or delicious cheese.” He looked up at his wife as she began to chuckle, playing with his hair. “And of course I didn’t marry you for your looks alone.” He sat up and pulled Haruhi into a tight embrace. “You’re looks were like the prize inside a smart, kind, genuine, and perfect cereal box. And that laugh makes it even better.”

 

Haruhi leaned into the hug and laughed again, letting out a content sigh after a moment. “You know all this flattery doesn’t get you out of giving Ant  _ ‘the talk.’ _ ”

 

_ And so Tamaki Suoh died twice that day. _

 

* * *

_ That same day, on the other side of town, two other parents were about to realize how old they’re getting. Or really, one other parent would finally realize how old they were all getting while the other will sit back revel in the fact that he’d realized it long ago. _

 

She gracefully entered the kitchen without making a sound, not because she was intent on stealth, but because she was just naturally graceful and poised and light on her feet. Immediately submerged in the hustle and bustle of the kitchen staff preparing for dinner, she maneuvered through the handful of people moving about the large modern kitchen. 

 

After all these years, her mother finally agreed to let her father hire a kitchen staff. The family of four was much too busy with work, school, extra-curriculars, and everything in between to fit cooking their own meals into the schedule. So, although extremely hesitant at first, her mother finally agreed to it. 

 

Her mother, however, still ended up in the kitchen helping out the staff in any way she could. Today they would only let her taste the food and critique it. So, when she graced the kitchen with her presence, her mother noticed it. 

 

“Zoe!” There was a cheerful yet surprised tone on Samantha’s voice. “I didn’t know you were home already. How was your day?”

 

Instead of verbally responding, Zoe smiled at her mother and gave her a thumbs-up. Zoe then made her way to the tea station of the kitchen, and when one of the kitchen staff asked her which tea she desired, she simply smiled, pointed at the Chamomile, and gave the staff member a small bow to show her thanks. 

 

Samantha, curious about her daughter’s silence, began to converse with the girl once more. “Did you lose your voice, Zoe? You have a few weeks until your show, so it’s a little early for vocal rest.”

 

Zoe held up a finger and wrote down  _ I lost my voice from a little cold. I should be fine. Don’t worry about me.  _

 

Just then, Kazuto, her fourteen year old brother who was sitting at the island playing a game on his phone,completely unnoticed until this very moment, read the paper along with his mother and spoke up. “That’s not what I heard.”

 

Zoe snapped her attention to her brother and glared at him, silently daring him to say another word and see what happens. Younger siblings were absolutely insufferable. Especially younger siblings that had not the slightest clue as to when to shut their ungrateful mouths. 

 

Samantha, not paying attention to the look Zoe was giving Kazuto, questioned her son about his statement. “What do you mean, Kazuto?”

 

Lacking any emotion at all, but mentally smirking at his sister, Kazuto turned to his mother and told her his story. “I overheard someone saying that while Zoe was at lunch and Akemi was in the bathroom, Yukimi got Zoe to tell her why her voice was gone. She made Yukimi promise not to tell Akemi or me.”

 

Zoe balled up her fists at her side and drilled holes into Kazuto’s skull with her eyes. She took a deep, audible breath, causing Samantha to turn to her daughter. “Zoe, what’s wrong? Is what Kazuto’s about to say something bad?”

 

She bit her lip, still unable to speak much at all, and Kazuto continued to tell his mother of the juicy gossip he had heard. “Well, Zoe made Yukimi promise not to tell me, but Antoine made Yukimi promise not to tell Akemi. And she didn’t. I’m pretty sure Akemi still doesn’t know. But Zoe lost her voice because-” He paused to build up tension between himself and Zoe. 

 

“-she was up all night having really loud and rough sex with Antoine.” 

 

Zoe ran around the island to chase after her brother, croaking out in a pathetic but aggressive whisper, “ _ You little shit!”  _

 

As her two children ran around the kitchen island, somehow avoiding the kitchen staff all the while, Samantha did her best to stop the madness. “Zoe! Kazuto! Both of you cut this out right now! You’re acting like children!”

 

A minute or two after Samantha started yelling at her children, Kyoya, noticing his wife’s shouting, made his way from his office across the house, to the source of the shouting. Once he got to the kitchen, he saw his wife doing everything she could to hold their daughter back, who was still trying to chase after their son. Kazuto was on the opposite side of the island holding onto his stomach as he laughed hysterically.

 

“What is going on in here?” Kyoya calmly raised his voice over the shouting and laughter. He seemed shocked and exasperated, but not angry in the slightest.

 

As soon as Kyoya’s presence was known, all noise, save that of the kitchen staff, ceased. “Zoe. Kazuto. I heard your mother shouting at you all the way from my office. Is there a reason you were directly disobeying whatever she was telling you to do and giving her a hard time?”

 

Zoe did her best to point the blame at Kazuto. “ _ He’s the one that decided to be a little piece of shit!”  _ But it was no use. Her words were even less audible than they were five minutes ago. 

 

Kyoya looked over at his daughter, confused. “I didn’t catch any of that. What happened to your voice? Are you sick?”

 

Kazuto, who was just beginning to catch his breath again, openly smirked this time and started to speak. “It’s because-”

 

Zoe attempted to launch herself at her brother, but Samantha held her back. “Zoe. Stop.” 

 

Kyoya turned his attention to his son. “What is it, Kazuto?” 

 

“She’s not sick. She lost her voice b-because she-” He had to muster up all of the strength he could just to keep himself from hysterically laughing again. “-s-she was up all night having sex with Antoine. Apparently it was good enough to get her to lose her voice.” And with that he burst into hysterics once more. 

 

Ignoring his son’s outburst, Kyoya turned back to his daughter, who was now twiddling her thumbs and staring at the floor. “Is this true?”

 

Zoe didn’t look up from the ground. “Zoe. I’m not mad. I just need to know if what your brother says is true or not. So is it true?”

 

Without looking up, Zoe took a deep breath and gave a small nod. “Okay then I have a few more questions for you. If we get them over with now, it’ll be less painful for everyone.”

 

Zoe looked up at her father, her face turning redder by the second. 

 

“Kyoya, hun. Can’t we do this later?” Samantha let go over her daughter and turned to her husband.

 

“It’s nothing in depth or anything. You two can have that talk another time. I just have two simple questions and then we can move on.” 

 

Samantha sighed as Kyoya continued. “Okay. First, are you pregnant?”

 

Zoe’s blush instantly deepened as she gasped and squeaked out “what?!” 

 

“Just answer the question, Zoe. Are you pregnant?”

 

She shook her head furiously, making her answer as clear as possible without verbally saying the word  _ no _ . 

 

“Okay good. That means the answer to the next question is hopefully very clear. Do you two use protection?” 

 

Zoe’s nod was so aggressive that the words “ _ Yes! Of course! What kind of question is that?!”  _ were implied in her sentiment. 

 

Kyoya nodded and turned to his wife. “Then I don’t see what the problem is. As long as they’re both being smart and safe about it, it’s not a big deal. I would’ve preferred it if you two waited until you were both eighteen, but seeing as you’re only a few months shy of that, I don’t really see a problem.”

 

He turned to face his son, who had gone silent while he questioned Zoe. “Kazuto, what your sister and her boyfriend do together does not concern you. The only time it ever will is if you feel Zoe is in a terrible situation and needs help. Other than that, her business is her own. Next time you decide to tell her business without her permission, you’ll be grounded.”

 

Kazuto scoffed and began to whine. “Oh come on Dad! That’s not fair! It’s not like I told the whole world!” 

 

“No. But you told your parents and your entire kitchen staff, and I’m almost certain Zoe didn’t want anyone in this room to know every aspect of her private life. Now go wash up for dinner.” Kazuto ran out of the room, and Zoe started following behind him. “And Zoe-” She turned back towards her father. “-I would actually prefer it if we didn’t know anything about you and Antoine past this. Just be smart about it.”

 

Zoe nodded and left the kitchen to wash up. Once both of the children were gone, Kyoya and Samantha walked out of the kitchen and made their way to the dining room. They helped arrange the table in silence until Samantha spoke up. “You handled that a lot better than I thought you would.”

 

“Did you expect me to act like Tamaki and faint at the idea of my daughter being in love and growing up?”

 

“No. I just- I don’t know. I didn’t expect you to be as calm as you were.”

 

Kyoya looked up from the place setting he had just finished arranging. “Well how do you feel about it?”

 

Samantha sighed and shrugged. “I’m not particularly fond of the idea. I mean she is our baby girl. I don’t know . . . It actually makes me feel old now.”

 

Kyoya laughed and walked over to where Samantha was standing. “We aren’t at that point just yet. We’re just barely middle aged. When Zoe and Kazuto start having kids of their own is when we can finally say we’re old.” 

 

Samantha rolled her eyes and laughed. “That’s easy for you to say. You look like you’ve barely aged at all since we met. It’s almost as if you aged until Zoe was old enough to start school and then you just stopped.” 

 

Kyoya pulled his wife into an embrace and kissed the top of her head. He then laughed and replied to his wife’s comment. “Well you’ve definitely aged since then.” Samantha gasped and pushed out of Kyoya’s embrace, causing Kyoya to laugh again. He grabbed her hands and kissed them like a prince would a fair maiden. “Like fine wine, Sam. You’ve aged like fine wine.”

 

“You’re just using flattery to keep yourself off of the couch tonight.” 

 

Kyoya laughed again and pulled his wife into another embrace. “No. One of the guestrooms. We both know that if you kicked me out of bed, I’d either go to my office or one of the guestrooms.”

 

Samantha sighed and laughed, leaning into the embrace. “You rich people never cease to amaze me.”

 

Before Kyoya could respond, a groan of disgust could be heard from the dining room doorway. “Really? First you had to ask Zoe those awkward questions, now this? Right now?”

 

Without turning to face his son, Kyoya sighed and replied. “Kazuto, I know you have enough intelligence to know the difference between a hug and sex.”

 

_ And so Tamaki was the only one who died that day.  _

 

* * *

_ The next day.  _

_ Death count - Tamaki : 2 , Kyoya : 0 _

 

There isn’t much to be done to prepare for “the talk.” It doesn’t matter if you’re the teenager that already knows what goes where and when and that everything has to be absolutely consensual and . . . pretty much all you need to know (the internet is a great resource for that type of thing). It also doesn’t matter if you’re the parent who never thought you would ever have to talk about sex with teenagers after your own teenage years. It will always be uncomfortable. And for some reason, many dads just can’t help but make every word that comes out of their mouths the most awkward word choice anyone could come up with. 

 

Being a teenager is uncomfortable. But being the parent of a teenager or two is even worse. 

 

* * *

He sat on his bed, squished in the corner as he sulked and tuned his guitar. He had gone so long without bringing any of this bullshit up. Why did it have to happen now? Why couldn’t it wait until after he went to college? 

 

But most of all:  _ Why was it anyone’s business but his and Zoe’s? _

 

He continued to pout in the corner and tune his already tuned guitar. He would be doing something else, but he already finished his book so he had few options left. He needed a distraction at this point. He needed a distraction from - 

 

_ Knock-Knock-Knock  _

 

-that. He heard someone knocking at his door. Immediately he stopped mindlessly strumming his guitar. He went silent for a moment to see if the person would go away. Then they knocked again. 

 

“Go away.” Antoine raised his currently emotionless voice enough for the person at the door to hear him. He then, to distract himself some more, started strumming random chords on his guitar as loud as he could. 

 

After Antoine thought the person had gone away, he heard them knock again, this time followed by a voice: his father’s. “Ant . . . Come on.”

 

Antoine stopped strumming for a split second, just so he could reply. “I’m busy.” He then immediately went back to his mindless strumming.

 

“Antoine. I just want to talk.”

 

At that, Antoine abruptly stopped his strumming. He quickly placed his hands over the strings to stop and kind of sound from leaving the guitar. “That’s exactly why I just said I’m busy.”

 

Tamaki sighed on the other side of the door and ran his hand over his face. “Look we are going to have to talk about this sooner or later. Might as well do it now. Mom just went to talk to Akemi.”

 

“Good for them. Akemi deserves to be put through this anyways. She’s the one that brought it up.”

 

Tamaki sighed again at Antoine’s remark. “Antoine. Will you at least open the door so we can argue about this face to face.”

 

After a moment of silence, Tamaki could hear shuffling from the other side of the door. Antoine then unlocked and opened the door for his father. He stood in the doorway, now almost the same height as Tamaki and spoke quickly. “I know what to do and when. It’s one hundred percent consensual. I’ve never forced her to do anything. I use protection and she’s on the pill. She isn’t pregnant, and we aren’t stupid about anything. Are we done now?”

 

Tamaki stood there silently for a moment, awestruck. “Well . . . That is all great to hear . . . But I already knew you were smart enough to know and do all of that.”

 

Antoine groaned and crawled back onto his bed, taking his guitar with him. “What else do we need to talk about?” 

 

Tamaki followed Antoine into the room and sat at the edge of his bed. “Well . . . I guess . . . There’s just a lot more to it than, you know, doing it.”

 

“You’re making this more painful than I ever thought you would, Dad.”

 

“I know I know . . .” Antoine pulled his guitar to his chest and started quietly strumming as his father continued to speak. “First off . . . What would you do if you  _ did  _ get her pregnant.”

 

Without skipping a beat or putting his guitar down, Antoine replied. “Well I wouldn’t get her pregnant, so that’s an invalid question.”

 

“But  _ what if _ , Ant? I know that I didn’t plan on getting your mother pregnant before we got married, but I did. And that’s how we have you and Akemi.”

 

Antoine groaned and put his head against his guitar. “That is the last thing I want to think about right now, Dad.”

 

Tamaki cleared his throat and nodded. “Right. You’re right. But really. You’re only seventeen. What would you do if you got Zoe pregnant?” 

 

Hugging his guitar to his chest as he stopped playing, Antoine sighed and did his best to respond. “I mean . . . It’s not like we wouldn’t be able to afford to take care of a baby . . .”

 

“That’s not the point, Antoine. The only experience you have with taking care of a baby is holding your little sister when she was born. You need to understand that now that you’re intimate with Zoe, that is  _ always  _ a possibility. I need you to understand what kind of responsibility that holds.”

 

“I-I know . . . I just - I know it’s a big deal and I know even though you and Mom tell us all the time how happy you were when you found out you were gonna be parents, that doesn’t change the fact that we weren’t planned. You didn’t sit down and say ‘ _ Hey maybe we should have kids before we get married. _ ’ That’s just not like you. And I know Zoe was even less planned than Akemi and I . . . So I know how big of a deal that would be, especially because we’re only seventeen. But like . . . I don’t know all I can tell you is that we’re being as safe as we can be. We haven’t had any slip ups or scares yet, and I sure as hell don’t plan on having any soon. So . . .” 

 

A period of silence fell between the two as Tamaki thought about what Antoine had just said. “Okay the next thing I ask you has to be answered honestly. Every word you say has to be true.”

 

“What is that supposed-”

 

“Do you love her? Like really love her?” 

 

If anyone else had walked in the room at that moment, he or she would’ve witnessed one of the most uncomfortable silences known to man. But for Tamaki and Antoine, it was the loudest silence in the world. Antoine, now that his guitar was placed to the side, pulled his knees up to his chest as he did his best to put words in an order that would make an actual sentence.Tamaki knew that Antoine was struggling, and he respected that. Looking back at his relationship with Haruhi, it took both of them ages to finally confess their feelings to each other. So he waited patiently for Antoine to form some type of response.

 

After an imagined eternity, Antoine did his best to reply. “Yes.” At first his reply was simple and short to avoid spouting out all of the random sentiments that were circling his brain. But then, he kept going, knowing he had to say more in order for his father to deem it an acceptable answer. “Yeah. I really do . . . Like . . . Everything about her. I feel like if I didn’t-” He paused for a split second before moving past the four letter word that was so hard for him to say. “-if I didn’t then I wouldn’t be with her right now. I just don’t think I would be able to - like - have sex with her, or even date her at all if I didn’t feel that way.” He sat up so that he wasn’t curled up at much as before and looked over at his father. “So yes. I really do . . . Uhm . . . I- She means the world to me.” 

 

Tamaki smiled and laughed. “You don’t have to say it, Ant. I know that it’s hard. It means a lot. But I can tell you love her. And that’s really all I needed to know. Because . . . whether or not you agree with me, I know not everyone feels this way, sex is more than just an act of physical pleasure. But it seems like I don’t really need to tell you that.” Tamaki stood up and walked to the door. “So I guess that means you’re off the hook. No gruesome details and awkward conversations for you. I better go save your sister from your mother though. I’ll see you at dinner.”

 

As Tamaki walked out of Antoine’s room, Antoine shouted after him. “Hey, Dad!”

 

Tamaki leaned back and poked his head in Ant’s doorway. “Hm?”

 

“Thanks. For like, not freaking out like yesterday.”

 

He smiled and began walking down the hallway again, shouting behind him. “Just don’t do anything stupid. You never know when I’m gonna have another freakout about you two.”

 

* * *

_ On the other side of town . . . _

 

She was sitting at her desk in her bedroom, scrolling through social media on her laptop. It was a mindless action she partook in whenever she needed an easy distraction. Her long black hair was pulled into a bun, with only a few straggling hairs framing her porcelain skin. She sat in her desk chair with her knees pulled to her chest and her chin resting on her knees. She knew full well what was coming sometime that day, and nothing in the world could make her feel more uncomfortable about it. 

 

After last night . . . The last thing she wanted was for her parents to know about her sex life, especially since her sex life involves her parents’ best friends’ son. Now every time they would have dinner or a party together, everything would be extremely uncomfortable. 

 

At least they weren’t mad, though. Well her father wasn’t mad. Her mother didn’t necessarily seem pleased. But she is so grateful that she’s not actually in trouble. She can only imagine what kind of freak out Antoine had to deal with. Especially with his father. Luckily his mother was more level headed and could easily calm Tamaki down.

 

So, Zoe continued to sit . . . and wait . . . and sit . . . and wait . . . She figured she would call Antoine later and ask him about it because she knows his parents found out as well. If not by their own means then by her own father’s doing. She continued to mindlessly scroll through social media. She desperately needed some kind of distraction. The anticipation of an awkward talk with her mother that she honestly doesn’t need to have this late into her teen years was killing her. 

 

Sit . . . and wait . . . and sit . . . and wait . . . and s-

 

Here it comes. She heard her mother walking up the stairs that led to her and her brother’s rooms. She could tell it was her mother because, even though she was fairly petite, she was notorious for how heavily she walked on her feet. It sounded sometimes as if she had to plant herself in the ground with each step. Her heavy footed-ness switched out sometimes, though, with shuffling. It was either heavy or shuffling, nothing in between. So when Zoe heard heavy footsteps approaching, she knew her mother was coming to talk to her. 

 

The footsteps switched to shuffling as they got closer to Zoe’s door.  _ Knock knock knock. _

 

“Come in . . .” Zoe croaked from the back wall of her large room. She was still sitting at her desk with her knees pulled to her chest. The only difference was that the mindless scrolling finally ceased. There was no immediate response from the other side of the door, so Zoe, though her voice wasn’t completely recovered yet, croaked out the same words a bit louder. “I said come in.”

 

Samantha entered the room quietly, slowly closing the door behind her. She walked over to the edge of Zoe’s bed and sat down, facing her daughter from across the room. It had only been about thirty seconds, but to Zoe it felt like an hour of complete silence as her mother got situated. Samantha sighed and smiled warmly at her daughter, finally breaking the silence. “Hi, Zo. Is your voice doing any better?”

 

Zoe sighed and shrugged, croaking out an audible reply. “I mean I guess. Since you can actually hear me speak, that means it’s gotten at least a little better.”

 

Sam smiled at her daughter and nodded. “Good. I’m glad to hear that. I got you some more Throat Coat since I know you wanted to start preparing for auditions soon.”

 

Smiling into her knee at her mother’s small but meaningful gesture, Zoe whispered out a small “thanks” in reply. The two then sat in a more comfortable silence for a short minute before Samantha pulled up her legs to sit criss-crossed on her daughter’s large bed. 

 

“I know you really don’t want to talk about this.” Zoe nodded and sighed as her mother began the painful conversation she’d been anticipating for the past twelve hours. “But I also know that you understand this talk needs to happen.”

 

Without looking her mother in the eyes, Zoe shrugged and pressed her face against her knee. “Well I mean, I’ve obviously been sexually active for a little while now, and nothing has happened. So I must be doing something right.” 

 

Samantha raised an eyebrow at her daughter in slight confusion. 

 

“I’m just saying that I obviously know what to do, when to do it, and everything else like that. So I don’t see the point in having an in depth conversation about it.”

 

After another pregnant pause, Samantha laughed to herself and nodded. I honestly don’t even know where to begin. Well first of all, yes, you’re right. You obviously know what goes where and when and all of that wonderful stuff. I just . . . I need you to know how important it is that you are careful about this. I don’t want you to make the same mistakes I made.”

 

Zoe moved to look directly at her mother and frowned. She knew exactly what her mother was talking about, but she didn’t understand why her mother was presenting it with such a negative connotation. It, in all honesty, hurt Zoe a little bit to here her mother say that. “Mistakes?”

 

Sighing and shaking her head, Samantha did her best to backtrack and re-word her thoughts. She realized a little too late that her syntax was not the most appropriate for the situation. She wasn’t able to portray her thoughts as well as planned. “That’s not what I mean Zoe, and you know that. I’m not saying that you were a mistake. But your father and I weren’t even in a committed relationship when I got pregnant with you. We barely saw each other. Yes, we were friends and occasional lovers . . . But we only saw each other every few months. I mean, he was just recently divorced when we started our weird open relationship thing . . . All I’m saying is . . . I don’t want you to be stupid like I was. I made a mistake. I did. It ended up being an amazingly beautiful and wonderful mistake . . . But I know that things would have been a little easier if your father and I were already married before you were born. Or even if I told him about my pregnancy when I first found out instead of waiting until a month before you were born . . .”

 

Zoe sighed and moved to sit next to her mother on her bed, leaning her head on Samantha’s shoulder. “I know I was probably the least planned thing to happen in both of your lives, but you need to trust me when I say that Antoine and I are being very careful about this.”

 

Samantha turned her head to Zoe without causing Zoe to move. “He does treat you right, doesn’t he? I’ve known him since he was a baby, so I know he’s a wonderful boy . . . But he doesn’t force you into anything, right Zoe?”

 

Zoe laughed and shook her head, sitting up and turning to face her mother so they could converse face to face. “No, maman. I promise you that Antoine’s perfectly respectful and gentle exterior is not a facade in the slightest. Neither of us pressures the other. Everything is consensual and protected. And we don’t go around telling the whole world about it either.”

 

“Hmm. But as we learned from yesterday, your silence says a thousand words.” 

 

Jumping up off of the bed, Zoe crossed the room to return to her computer. There was no way she was going to laugh this one off with her mother. Not a chance. The two were finally having a well needed heart-to-heart, and she just had to pull her usual stunt and make it weird. Why were mom’s like this? “Okay. I have homework to finish. Great talk Mom.”

 

“Zoe,  you know I’m just teasing you.”

 

She sighed and started scrolling mindlessly through her social media again. “Yeah, but . . . Still Mom. You didn’t have to make it weird and sexual.”

 

Samantha stood up and walked over to her daughter’s desk, crossing her arms. “This was a conversation solely about sex, Zoe. What else did you expect?”

 

Dammit. Why did she always have to do this. One minute her mother was all bashful and shy about discussing sexual intimacy in front of her children. The next minute she had no problem making sex jokes with her daughter. Parents are insufferable. Almost as insufferable as siblings. Zoe shrugged and sighed again, voice going in and out of complete clarity. “I mean . . . not that.”

 

Standing over her daughter, Samantha laughed and pulled Zoe into a small hug, kissing the top of her head before walking away. “I’m just glad you’re being safe. Sex is nothing to be embarrassed about. Just keep being smart with it.”

 

Without another word, Samantha walked over to Zoe’s bedroom door, signaling the end of a conversation that was significantly less painful than she thought it would be. That is, it was supposed to be the end of the conversation until Samantha turned back around to ask her daughter a simple question. “You two really do love each other, don’t you?”

 

Zoe stopped scrolling immediately. She sat there staring at a blank spot on her desk and smiled to herself.  _ Of course we do. We’re soulmates. Isn’t it obvious. He’s my person. And I’m his. Nothing will ever change that. I can’t see myself with anyone else besides Antoine.  _ Zoe could go on for years about how much she loved Antoine Kaede Suoh. He was a total nerd, a hopeless romantic, a brilliant soccer player, and an incredibly irritating drama queen, just like his father. She loved every bit of Antoine that made him his own person. She loved him for every moody moment when he didn’t get the grade he wanted on a test. She loved him for every smile he gave her as she watched him score goal after goal on the soccer field. She loved him for every bouquet he brought her after every play, musical, recital, and even olympiad meet. She loved every song he played for her at three in the morning over facetime whenever she was stressed out or sad. She just . . . She loved him. And even though he never said those three words out loud, she knew he loved her too. She knew those three tiny words were too hard for him to say. That his anxiety got to him sometimes and he couldn’t croak out those three syllables. But actions tend to speak louder than words. She knows what love looks like. She has her parents, and all the parents around her to thank for that. So she knows he loves her. And she knows she loves him. “We do. We really do. I wouldn’t have been with him for this long if I didn’t love him, maman. You know that.”

 

Samantha smiled and nodded before turning to leave the room for real this time. The smile on her face made it clear that Zoe’s expression alone said every sentiment her mind was spilling. She didn’t have to say how much she loved Antoine out loud. Everyone with a brain could tell that the two were completely smitten. She was just happy that her daughter didn’t have to wait as long as she did to find her true love. “I know. I just wanted to make sure.” As she walked out of the room, she shouted behind her to Zoe. “We’re going out to lunch in an hour, though. So you should probably get dressed. It was Dad’s idea, not mine.”

 

Even though the last thing she wanted to do was leave her room, Zoe couldn’t wipe that smile off of her face no matter how hard she tried. 

 

* * *

After the awkward conversations between parent and teenager, you would think that the teenager would be hesitant to fornicate in his own home. When the feeling hits you, though, sometimes it’s too strong to resist. And so there they were, bodies pressed against each other in his large and extravagant bedroom at his family estate. Clothes were still on, though not all the way. Lips were swelling, and breaths were becoming more and more scarce. In between needy kisses and hasty breaths, Zoe spoke quietly against Antoine’s skin. “You do realize that this is exactly what everyone thinks we’re doing whenever we’re alone now right?”

Removing his hand from the secure spot where it rested gently in Zoe’s dark hair, he sighed and raised an eyebrow.“Are you trying to turn me off, babe?”

 

She sat up and shrugged, laughing. “I mean when you put it that way.” She pulled her hair into a loose ponytail to get it out of her face, causing Antoine to protest and mumble something along the lines of  _ “no leave it down. It’s too pretty to be up.”  _ She then laughed again and stood up, adjusting her clothes to make her previous actions slightly less obvious. 

 

Antoine, from his bed, reached out to Zoe and whined. “No, where are you going. Come back.”

 

Zoe laughed as she heard Antoine get off of his bed and then felt him wrap his arms around her middle from behind, leaning his head on her shoulder. “You literally told me that your parents would be home in twenty minutes. That was like fifteen minutes ago.”

 

Humming in agreement, Antoine remained with his arms wrapped around his girlfriend’s waist. He moved his head and kissed at her neck, speaking quietly in between kisses. “So that means we have five minutes left.” 

 

“Antoine. Come on.” Zoe peeled Antoine’s arms off of her and moved over to his desk to check her phone. Before Antoine could even start to protest the newfound lack of warmth, he heard commotion coming from down the long hallway.

 

“We’re home, Antoine! We brought dinner home!” He could hear his mother shout from across the house. Of course they got home a few minutes early. Just his luck. Now he didn’t even have time to take Zoe home.

 

He straightened his clothes, ran a hand through his messy hair, and walked over to his bedroom door. Opening it just wide enough to stick his head out into the hallway, he shouted back a response to his mother. “I’ll be down in a minute!” 

 

The last thing he expected was a reply other than “okay” from Haruhi. The conversation was over. She stated something that needed some type of reply, and he had replied. End of story. But his mother, being shameless as she is, replied more than just okay. “Okay! Oh and we got some for Zoe too, so don’t worry about taking her home until after dinner!” 

 

Of course they did . . . 

 

* * *

Dinner was uncomfortable, but not quite unbearable. The smirks and giggles from Across the table where Akemi sat were enough to set Antoine off, but Zoe just played along. She laughed when Akemi smirked at her - they were best friends, after all. She made conversation with Haruhi and Emilie like usual. She didn’t flaunt the fact that she had an obvious hickey poking out from the collar of her shirt, but she didn’t necessarily hide it either. 

 

Haruhi and Emilie acted as if nothing happened. They sat there making conversation at the dinner table as usual. Tamaki silently focused on his meal the entire time, which was unlike his usual ebullient self. He couldn’t help but make it so painfully obvious that he assumed his son and his best friend’s daughter were having sex while they were out. He was wrong of course, but no one was going to bring the topic up at dinner. So he continued to assume that Antoine’s messy hair and the small yet obvious bruise on Zoe’s neck meant more than kissing. This was going to take a long, long while to get used to. Antoine noticed the change and did his best to ignore how uncomfortable his father was making everything instead of glaring at him and saying “ _ Really dad? We already talked about this a few days ago _ .” He stayed quiet. 

 

And so dinner went by fast, but painfully slow. In the car on the way to the Ootori household, Antoine was as silent as his father was at dinner. He was pouting and silently complaining, jealous of how his girlfriend could remain completely calm when their sex life was now a spectacle for everyone close to them to gawk at. That was a false idea, of course, but Antoine was stubborn as an ox and as much of a drama queen as his father. Nothing would change his mind at this point. Zoe noticed that Antoine was upset and leaned on his shoulder as he drove, careful not to impair his driving. “You know . . . Acting all moody and upset because your twin sister makes fun of your sex life doesn’t make it any easier to deal with.” She looked up at him as he drove, still silent. “She’s my best friend. And I’m sleeping with her brother. She just barely got used to the fact that we obviously aren’t gonna break up, so of course she’s going to make it weird.”

 

Sighing, Antoine broke his silence and leaned slightly against Zoe as he continued to drive. She had a point, but Akemi always blew things out of proportion just to see how Antoine would react. He knew Zoe was right, but it didn’t mean Akemi was right in making a big deal out of something she probably should have caught onto by now. “I know. It’s just . . . I wish she and Dad didn’t have to make a big deal about it every time something happens. And we weren’t even having sex when they got home!”

 

“We were pretty close to it.”

 

“Yeah. But still. We’ve been dating since middle school, but now that they know we have sex they think that’s all we ever do. It pisses me off that now everyone is going to think we’re just two horny teenagers that fuck twenty-four-seven when we both know that’s not the case at all. There is so much more to our relationship than sex. If it was just sex we wouldn’t have started dating in middle school. It’s just annoying.”

 

Zoe sat up and ran a hand through Antoine’s hair. “I understand. But think about it this way, we just have to get through this school year and then we won’t have to worry about that anymore. We’ll be in college. We’ll be real adults. Then they won’t have much to complain about.”

 

“Yeah. I guess so. . . “ After taking a minute to calm down, Antoine gave Zoe a quick glance and laughed. “I’m just glad the weird talk thing wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be. I mean it was really awkward - because I mean it’s _my dad._ The man who could barely deal with Akemi going bra shopping with mom for the first time \- but it wasn’t that bad.”

 

Zoe scoffed and sat back in her seat. She figured that Antoine would have had to sit through and excruciating conversation about sex from the man that still gets flustered when his wife kisses him on the mouth in public. She didn’t expect him to get off easier than she did. Apparently she was wrong. “At least you weren’t asked the most uncomfortable questions in front of your brother, mom, and the entire kitchen staff.”

 

“Wait. I thought you said that you had a really short talk with you mom about it.”

 

Playing with the hem of her shirt, Zoe spoke quietly. Not wanting to relive the extremely uncomfortable conversation - or lack thereof since she had no voice - with her father in front of everyone, she spoke while mentally cringing at the thought. “Well yeah. That was after Dad had to make it weird while we were all in the kitchen together. Really it was Kazuto’s fault for bringing up the whole losing my voice thing. Overall it was just really uncomfortable.” 

 

Doing his best not to smirk at the memory of being good enough in bed to make his girlfriend lose her voice, he laughed and glanced over at Zoe again. “Oh. Well if it makes you feel any better, both of my sisters are the reason why this entire thing was brought up in the first place. And Akemi didn’t get out of having the talk either.” 

 

Zoe laughed at the thought of Akemi loudly objecting to any kind of sex talk with her mother. She could just picture her covering her ears and singing poorly as her mother tried to speak to her. She wondered how that conversation could have gone. “I would have paid to see Akemi sit through that.”

 

“She came out.”

 

“What?”

 

Antoine looked over at Zoe once they were parked in the large driveway of her parents’ house. “When Mom was giving her the talk, she came out as bi.” 

 

“Wait. I thought they already knew. Everyone already knows Akemi is bisexual.”

 

He turned a little more to face Zoe as they spoke. “Well yeah. But apparently Mom and Dad didn’t officially know. Apparently they made a bet about it. They bet on Akemi’s sexuality. It was weird.”

 

“Let me guess. Your mom won because she guessed Akemi was bi?”

 

Antoine laughed and shook his head. “Nope. It was hilarious. I was in the room too. When Akemi told them she’s bisexual, Mom pulled out her wallet and handed Dad twenty bucks. Akemi’s reaction was the best part though. I don’t think I’ve seen her that quiet since we were babies.”

 

Zoe couldn’t help but laugh at the ever-so-typical antics of her boyfriend’s family. She’s known them since she was born, and nothing really seems to change. “Your family is insane.”

 

Antoine shrugged and leaned in to kiss Zoe. It was short and sweet, lacking the heavy passion from before, but still holding the love he couldn’t bring himself to say out loud. “I could say the same about yours.”

 

She laughed and leaned her head against his shoulder again, hesitant to leave the car. “You’re right. We’re all insane.” 

 

After a moment of comfortable silence between the two, Antoine kissed the top of Zoe’s head and sighed. He didn’t want this moment to end. He didn’t want to go back home while his dad and sister were still making everything about his life so weird and ridiculous. He wanted to stay here with Zoe forever. “I think you should probably head inside now. You know, before Kazuto comes out here and makes our lives as miserable as Akemi does.” 

 

Zoe frowned and moved to check her phone. She had a single text illuminating her dimmed screen. “No. They went out to dinner with my aunt tonight. They knew I wouldn’t get out of rehearsal early enough so they asked if it would be okay to go without me. I said yes, of course, because that gave me more time with you.” 

 

Antoine smiled and leaned against Zoe as she had done to him earlier. “So how much longer until they get home? Do we have enough time to live up to our titles as resident fornicators?”

 

“You’re an idiot.” She laughed and punched his arm as he sat back up. While she loved the passionate intimacy of their relationship, she loved the subtle and softer moments like these. His stupid puns and his dorky smile made her remember how much she actually loved him, and how she knows she’ll never stop loving him. “Dad said they’re on their way home now.” 

 

“Do you want me to wait with you until they get here? You have your key, right?” 

 

“Yes, I have my key. And that would be nice.”

 

He nodded and smiled, unbuckling his seatbelt and turning the car off. He nodded toward the door and smiled. “C’mon. Let’s wait on the trunk. It’s getting warmer out.” 

 

She smiled and hurried out of the car to follow Antoine to the back of the car. After a moment of fidgeting, both were seated on the trunk of the overpriced car, lounging against the rear window in each other’s arms. “I feel like this is a cliche. Like . . . .We’re in a cheesy movie right now.”

 

Antoine held Zoe close and played with her hair. He would never get over how somehow Zoe managed to always smell perfectly like spearmint and roses. Nothing ever took the fragrance away. He wondered if it was some really expensive perfume - more expensive than anything his father buys his mother for her birthday - or if she was just some kind of magical creature that always smelled perfect. He chose to believe the latter more often than not. “So? What’s wrong with that. Everyone loves those cheesy movies for a reason. My parents practically lived through all of those cheesy movies before they had kids. I mean, look at my dad. Everyone knows he’s a hopeless romantic.” 

 

Zoe turned onto her side so that she could bury her face in Antoine’s neck. She smiled when she smelled apples and a little bit of cinnamon. She doesn’t know how long it’s been, but those two scents have grown to be her favorite. His skin was so soft too. She already knew he had a vigorous skin care regimen - like father like son - but sometimes she forgot just how soft and comfortable he was. She could stay like this forever. “Yeah. So are you though. And don’t even try to deny it  _ Mr. I-Only-Use-My-Guitar-To-Sing-To-My-Girlfriend.”  _

 

“You know you love it.”

 

As lights became visible at the end of the driveway, Zoe kissed Antoine on the cheek and said in a hushed but very audible tone. “I know I love  _ you _ .” 

 

As usual she only received a kiss back and a squeeze of her hand. She didn’t need to hear him say it because she knew. As the lights got closer to the house, they both say up and waited to  be greeted by her family. Once her parents and brother got out of the car, Zoe started to climb off of the trunk, only to be stopped by Antoine. “What’s up, Ant?”

 

He squeezed her hand and kissed her again, this one lasting a millisecond longer than the other. Taking a deep breath, he slid off the trunk, helping her off behind him, and pulled her into a tight hug. After a minute Zoe, started to move from the hug so that she could say goodnight and go inside. Instead Antoine kept the hug going as he kissed her on the cheek and smiled warmly at her. “I love you too, Zo.” 

 

And with that he let her go with a whispered goodnight and a promise to text her when he got home. He waved at his (in all practical cases) second family and made his way home. Zoe almost felt like crying. Not sad tears, but happy. As real as she already knew their love was, he finally just solidified her thoughts. He loved her. He finally said it. Oh God, how she loved him so. 

 

* * *

  
Teenage hormones are irritating and uncontrollable. While they can’t control the hormones, however, many teenagers have enough common sense to control what happens when the hormones go wild. They may be young crazy teenagers, but they’re definitely more mature than their parents think they are. And while they never admit to learning anything from their parents, they know that they’re able to find true love thanks to the examples set before them. Sometimes living up to cliches was fun. Sometimes being that couple was fun. Sometimes growing up was fun. Love was really, really fun.   

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so this chapter is 100% based on my viewpoints and feelings and experiences. I don't expect everyone to agree with the things that were said in this chapter. If you do, awesome! If you don't, you do you, my dude. I hope everyone understood this chapter well enough. Comments and kudos are appreciated! Thanks again!


	3. And So Our Story Begins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> "Finally, I personally think that Kyoya will choose a woman based on merit to the Ootori family. But wouldn't it be nice if love sprouted instead?" -(translated) Note by Hatori Bisco 
> 
> .  
> .  
> .
> 
> So this is a monster of a chapter. I originally wrote this as a standalone piece in this universe, but I really like the idea of making this a chapter instead. This was written for my best friend (and the inspiration for Samantha Moreau-Ootori) for her birthday, but it was way late (her birthday is in march and i finished it in september) so here it finally is. I hope you enjoy Kyoya and Samantha's love story as much as I do. The furthest it gets, time wise, is around/about two years before current time in the overall fic. Enjoy!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some warnings for this chapter include : adult language, references to sex, a scene in a hospital for childbirth, and a lot more but very minor. The tags I include the most are references to sex and adult language. Thanks!

**_30 April, 2014_ **

 

_ “I think it would be best if we ended this.” _

 

_ “Ended what?” _

 

_ “Our marriage, Kyoya.” _

 

_ “What makes you say that? Our marriage was probably the best thing to happen to either of our companies. It’d be a shame, and simply illogical to end it now.” _

 

_ “That’s the problem. This marriage is nothing more than a business transaction. I know it was logical and beneficial to both of our families, but the days of feudalism and pure-blooded aristocratic societies are over. Don’t you want to be happy, Kyoya?” _

 

_ “I don’t know what you’re talking about, Masami. I’m perfectly content married to you.” _

 

_ “Kyoya, you don’t have to pretend like you enjoy your life right now. This may not be the best marriage, emotionally, but I’ve gotten to know you enough to understand that you’re not truly happy. You once told me that you’ve spent your entire life doing everything you could to please your father, very rarely doing things for yourself. Your marriage to me was just another chore to please your father. We both know this wasn’t done because you fell in love with me. I know you don’t love me, Kyoya.”  _

 

_ “Well do you love me?” _

 

_ “I care for you. I care about your general well being because you’re a wonderful person. I also think you’re very handsome . . . But no. I don’t love you.”  _

 

_ “I kind of figured that . . . But marriage isn’t always about love, Masami. Marriage is about security, and financial gain, and family succession.” _

 

_ “Did your parents tell you that, or did you come up with that yourself?”  _

 

_ “If marriage were about love and love alone, the world would be filled with idealistic fools like Tamaki.” _

 

_ “I thought Tamaki was your best friend. Didn’t you say you love him like a brother?” _

 

_ “He is. And I do. But he’s too idealistic for his own good. And I think even he knows that marriage isn’t always about love.” _

 

_ “Do your parents love each other, Kyoya?” _

 

_ “I don’t see what that has to do with any of this.” _

 

_ “It’s just a simple question. I guess it’ll help me understand your viewpoint on this more.” _

 

_ “Well . . . I supposed they hold at least some love for each other. Otherwise, I doubt I would have been born. I don’t believe for a second that they loved each other when they first got married, though.” _

 

_ “Okay then, do you feel like at any point in this marriage - if this marriage were to continue - you could actually love me? Do you really think you’ll ever love me, Kyoya?” _

 

_ “I believe you are a kind and beautiful woman.” _

 

_ “That didn’t answer my question.” _

 

_ “No, Masami. I honestly don’t believe I could ever love you. I’m sorry.” _

 

_ “Don’t be. That’s such a silly thing to be sorry for. No one should ever have to apologize for love. And besides, I said the same thing about you. That’s why I brought all of this up. That is why I think we should end this.” _

 

_ “So you’re saying we should get a divorce?” _

 

_ “I’m tired of pleasing my parents, Kyoya. I want to live for myself. I want to find love, not have a handsome man handed to me for the sake of family lineage. And I know you want to be happy to. I know you want to find what Tamaki and Haruhi have. The only people I ever see you show real emotion with are Tamaki and Haruhi. Seeing them happy makes you happy. Maybe, though, you need to find your own love instead of living vicariously through them.” _

 

_ “I don’t live vicariously through my best friends.”  _

 

_ “You’re missing the point, Kyoya.” _

 

_ “Fine. But what about our companies? The whole point of our marriage was to form a merger of the two companies. What now?” _

 

_ “I may not have any romantic feelings for you, but I do consider you a friend, Kyoya. Or at least  a friendly acquaintance. I’m not going to ruin our companies by pulling out of the merger after our divorce. That wouldn’t help anyone.” _

 

_ “Alright. Are you sure about this, Masami?” _

 

_ “I’m positive. Like I said, I care about your general well being. I want to see you happy, Kyoya. So, let’s end this ridiculous marriage. And maybe you should even take a vacation once this is all said and done. All you ever do is work. You deserve to live for yourself for a little while.”  _

 

~

 

**_23 August, 2014_ **

 

He didn’t truly know the meaning of the word vacation. Well, he knew the definition and the general context in which it was used, but he didn’t truly understand it. Every family vacation taken throughout his childhood was for business. Business and family relations. Nothing was ever for fun, for a break, for actual time off to relax. He didn’t even relax during the vacations taken with the host club. Sure, the rest of the hosts had wonderful times relaxing, but he was running numbers, testing facilities, planning events, promoting the club as a whole. His ex-wife was right. All he ever did was work. 

 

Maybe it was a whim. Maybe it was everything Masami told him that day. Maybe it was Tamaki’s influence on him after all these years. Whatever it was, he decided to figure out what a vacation truly was. He realized - a little too late - that his decision was mostly due to Tamaki’s influence. He realized this because, after traveling to London for business reasons (or that’s what he told himself), he ended up in France - the birthplace of his quixotic best friend. 

 

He wasn’t sure what it was, but something about his first stop in France - Paris - made him want to see more. So a trip to Paris, turned to a trip to Cannes, Nice, Strasbourg, Avignon, Bordeaux, Toulouse, Carcassonne, and his final stop - Marseille. 

 

He visited historic locales, tasted exquisite food, drank perfectly aged wine, and even spent some nights with a few different women - though he limited that after realizing he wanted more than just sex, and  the women he slept with were attracted to his status as a wealthy foreigner. He knew, however, how cliched the city of love was. He didn’t believe for a second that he would actually find love in Paris. And he didn’t. 

 

But Marseille had a special charm of its own - delectable bouillabaisse aside. Marseille had a beautiful woman, clumsy and loud, with bright orange hair and a smile as bright as her sky blue eyes. Marseille knocked his glasses off of his face - or the beautifully vibrant woman in front of him did - and made him say “ _ Oh. So that’s what love is . . .”  _

 

“Oh my, I am so sorry! I’ll pay for a new pair, you have my word!” Oh. English. Not many people have initiated an English conversation with him on this trip. Her words were - are - accented, but clear as day. It was cute. He never thought voices were cute. Did love make voices cute? He’d have to ask Tamaki. Maybe. No, he’ll figure it out for himself. 

 

“It’s fine, really. I usually carry an extra pair in case of emergencies.” His words were accented to, but not as heavily. Practice. He had much practice with different English dialects and accents. For business purposes, he told himself. It was all for business purposes. Not at all to feel like a worldly man. Not at all to impress his father. No. All business. “You speak English fairly well. I haven’t met a lot of people here that do.”

 

There it was again, that bright smile that should’ve been painful to look at. He’s almost sure this is how Tamaki feels whenever he sees Haruhi smile. He understood. Haruhi had - has - a beautiful smile. Haruhi was - is - beautiful. But this woman - with her red hair and freckled skin and eyes as clear as a warm Summer day - was - is - different. Her smile was so entrancing that he almost missed her words. “You speak it well yourself.” She paused for a moment and tucked a few strands of hair behind her ear. “I learned for business reasons (that’s what she told herself. Not to be a worldly woman. Not to impress her parents and her best friend she hasn’t seen in years. No. Just business). My father’s a banker and a lot of Americans use his bank when they come here. Also my mother has a small art business that has transactions in the United Kingdom and North America. Why did  you learn English, if you don’t mind me asking? You don’t seem like you’re from an English speaking country, and you’re obviously not from here.”

 

Did he smile and laugh? He wasn’t sure. Everything - every emotion and gesture - felt a bit involuntary when talking to this mysterious woman. The conversation had a mind of its own, flowing with ease. “Business. My father’s company has had international relations since before I was born. He’s dealt with clients from all around the world, so it was only natural that I take up more languages than my mother tongue.” 

 

“Mind if i ask where you’re from?”

 

“Japan. Near Tokyo.” He paused, contemplating the next move of the conversation. He wanted to let it keep going but he had to make a conscious effort to direct it slowly. “I would ask where you’re from, but I assume you’re a local.”

 

Laughing, she shook her head and rolled her eyes. “You seem more intelligent than the type that makes assumptions. I’ve lived here for quite some time now, but I’m from Paris.” She held out her hand in a gesture of proper greeting. “My name is Samantha, by the way. Samantha Moreau.” 

 

How could a name so simple and common as Samantha be such music to his ears. Dear God, he felt like Tamaki. No wonder Tamaki was the way he was. If he grew up in cities like Marseille and Paris, how could he not become a hopeless romantic. 

 

Shaking her hand - it was soft and small, but strong and unintentionally aggressive - he smiled back and returned the favor. “Kyoya Ootori. It’s nice to meet you.”

 

There was a small but pregnant pause between the two, taking in each other’s presence - it felt like the highlight of a romantic comedy where the audience was made to believe love at first sight was actually plausible - until Samantha spoke up again. 

 

“Well, Kyoya -” He didn’t know why, but his name actually sounded nice when she said it. It was like she had a special way with words. Her lightly accented English rolled around the vowels, making his name sound soft and warm, like her hand when he shook it. “- since you won’t let me pay for a new pair of glasses, which I’m sure were terribly expensive, I’d like to request that you join me for lunch - that is, if you aren’t busy.”

 

“Even if I were busy, I’d probably still agree to have lunch with you.”

 

Samantha laughed, loud and true, and Kyoya was sure he could see a faint blush spread across her cheeks. “And here I was thinking that asking you to lunch would be too forward.” Pausing, she let out another small laugh and did her best to hide a wide smile. “Well do you have any place in particular in mind for lunch?”

 

They both knew the answer to that question, but Kyoya simply shrugged and smiled. He couldn’t remember the last time someone made him smile this much - genuinely smile. “I’ve only been here for a little over a day. You may not be a local but you definitely know your way around better than I do.”

 

“Okay then-” She grabbed onto his wrist, a seemingly involuntary action meant to direct him to wherever she decided to go, and smiled wide. He hated repetition, he really did. But for some reason that was still completely beyond him, Kyoya’s mind kept focusing on how brilliant her smile was. It was like a breath of fresh air, and he was damn sure he’d never made that comparison in his life before. He was confused and frustrated and awed all the same. Love didn’t happen like this. Love took time. Love had to be nurtured and developed after all parties got to know each other. He wasn’t necessarily complaining though. Kyoya simply acknowledged how soft Samantha’s hand was - somehow it felt softer than it did just a second ago - and followed her lead. He was still confused at how someone could be so openly physical with someone she just met, but he played along. This was all so new. New and terrifying, but amazingly fascinating all the same. “-I know just the place.” 

 

He was pretty sure they both knew at that point that the place didn’t matter. She at least had to see it, even if only a little bit. Kyoya Ootori would follow Samantha Moreau wherever she wanted to take him. 

 

~

 

Lunch went by smoothly. Between small talk fell comfortable silences, and somehow both of them got through crash courses of each other’s lives. Kyoya was impressed with Samantha’s life. She came from neither extreme wealth or any type of royalty, but somehow she was surrounded by both her entire life. She has moved all around France and even parts of the United States, but she spent the majority of her time in Paris. Everything she said, every word, found itself a permanent spot in Kyoya’s brain. Either she was a fantastic storyteller, which he later realized was most definitely not the case, or he was just more infatuated than he first thought. One thing she said, however, stuck out more than anything else. 

 

“I was actually really surprised when you agreed to have lunch with me.”

 

“Why?”

 

She gave a small shrug and tucked a strand of hair behind her ear - he began to notice that was a small habit of hers - as she spoke. “Well I’m not really the type of person that goes out a lot. When I bumped into you I was running a simple errand for my father. So I don’t really go out on dates or meet anyone new all that often. That and not many people have made an effort to ask me out either.”

 

Without giving him a chance to respond, Samantha smiled and gave a small laugh. “It was just a bit of a change, you know? I’m sure I’d go out more if my best friend still lived here. But I haven’t talked to him in years so . . .” 

 

Not quite sure exactly how to respond, Kyoya waved Samantha’s comment off and smiled. “Well I don’t normally go out often either. I’m pretty sure the only reason I’ve done so much traveling already is because my ex and my best friend convinced me to.” He paused for a moment. “Is there a reason you haven’t talked to him -your best friend- in years, if you don’t mind me asking?”

 

Samantha rubbed the back of her neck and sighed. “Well . . . I mean . . . He moved away when we were in middle school. Well I moved away first. I was going to stay in America for a year, but before I got back I got a letter from him saying that he would be moving out of France to go live with his father.” She paused momentarily as a sad smile formed on her face. She looked like she was viewing a distant memory in her mind’s eye. A memory that hasn’t been looked at for years. “We wrote to each other for a bit after that, but we eventually fell out of touch.”

 

“Well I’m sure if you wrote him again he would respond. From the little bit you’ve told me about him, I’m fairly certain that he’d be happy to hear from you again.”

 

She shrugged and smiled at him again, returning to her normally enthusiastic self once more. “You’re probably right. I’ll try to get in touch with him soon.”

 

The two fell back into casual conversation after that, finding every aspect of their respective lives the most intriguing thing ever. Both Kyoya and Samantha barely broke the conversation to eat after they fell into the comfortable talk they had first started with. The conversation topics ranged from favorite colors -

_“I haven’t really taken the time to pick a favorite color. It seems like a waste of time to_ _think of things like that.”_

 

_“Oh come on, Kyoya. That’s a bit ridiculous.” She rested her head on the palm of her_ _hand as her brows furrowed in thought. “Well, if you can’t choose a color then . . ._ _Purple. I feel like purple is just_ your color _. You’d look wonderful in purple.”_

 

_“Alright then. Purple it is. What about you, though.” Kyoya crossed his arms and leaned_ _back in his chair. “Since you seem to be the expert on favorite colors, what’s yours?”_

 

_ “Red.” She answered without hesitation. “It’s the color of love and passion. It’s incredibly romantic.” She paused for a second but continued before Kyoya had a chance to respond. “Green is a close second though. Green is very calming and it makes me think of nature and my mother’s eyes. So red and green.” _

 

_ “So since your favorite colors are red and green, I’m going to assume your favorite holiday is Christmas.”  _

 

_ “There you go assuming things again.” She laughed and smiled, mimicking his position in her own seat. “But yes. I absolutely adore Christmas.”  _

 

\- and favorite holidays  _ (instead of saying he didn’t have one, Kyoya said that he was still undecided but he would let her know when he made up his mind _ ) to family lives ( _ Sam was an only child, Kyoya discovered _ ) and, just barely, past relationships. 

 

_ “You seem a bit young to be divorced, Kyoya.” _

 

“ _ You are not the first person to tell me that.”  _

 

“ _ Well it isn’t a bad thing. It’s just a bit unexpected. You are only barely twenty-six.”  _

 

_ “It isn’t like it ended on bad terms, though. It was a mutual agreement. We got married for financial gain, but we wanted to find love instead.” _

 

_ “Well have you found love, Kyoya?” _

 

_ He paused knowing his answer would be “yes,” but he didn’t want to rush this at all. He adjusted his glasses and gave Sam a small smile. “I’ll get back to you on that.”  _

 

There was not a dull moment to be found throughout the entirety of their lunch together. What seemed like minutes turned into hours as they talked and laughed and laughed and talked until they realized that they had probably overstayed their welcome. As the sun set and the bustling townspeople began to find their ways back home, Kyoya and Samantha walked through the small streets, alternating between casual conversation and comfortable silence. 

 

After the sun hid itself beyond Marseille’s watery horizon, the two reached the (luxury, of course) hotel Kyoya was staying at for the week. With the comfortable warmth of the sun gone and the casual date coming to an end, Samantha sighed as they approached the main entrance of the hotel. 

 

Kyoya was the first to speak up, noticing Samantha’s sigh and internally sighing himself. “So . . . I guess this is goodnight.”

 

She nodded sadly and stared at the lights coming from the building’s many windows. “I guess it is.” After another quiet moment, she turned to Kyoya and smiled, a bit sad but as bright as ever. “I had a lot of fun today - more fun than I’ve had in a long time. Thank you for letting me take you out to lunch.”

 

“I would say thank you for breaking my glasses, but, frankly, that was my favorite pair.”

 

Noticing the frown Samantha sported immediately following his comment, Kyoya laughed and shook his head. “I told you not to worry about it, Samantha-”

 

“Sam.”

 

“What?”

 

“Call me Sam. Samantha is too formal. That’s what my mother calls me whenever she’s upset with me.”

 

“Oh okay. Well, don’t worry about the glasses. Today more than made up for it.”

 

Samantha raised an eyebrow, crossed her arms, and huffed out a small breath. “I don’t believe you . . . but okay.” Another moment of silence washed over the two, and Sam found herself staring at Kyoya and smiling before she stuttered out a comment to break the silence. “I-it’s getting pretty late. I better get home before my parents think I got lost again.”

 

Kyoya couldn’t help but laugh at Samantha’s bizarre comment. “How on Earth could you get lost in a town you’ve lived in for a decade?”

 

Face flushing with embarrassment, Sam played with her bright orange hair and squeaked out a reply. “I have a terrible sense of direction. A-and I get distracted easily - And my parents over exaggerate everything anyways! They always think I’m getting lost or something.”

 

“Well, if that’s the case, I should let you go before they come looking for their fully grown daughter.” Laughing again at the roll of Sam’s eyes, Kyoya turned to walk into the main lobby of the hotel. He stopped himself before he reached the door and turned around. “Hey, Sam?”

 

“Hm?”

 

“Thank you for today.” He smiled at her and watched her smile and nod, a faint blush brushing her cheeks. As she turned around he blurted another comment out at her. “I’ll be in Marseille for the rest of the week. Maybe we could get lunch again tomorrow?”

 

Stopping abruptly in her tracks, Samantha turned around and walked back over to where Kyoya was standing. “I’ll see you tomorrow morning, then.” She leaned forward, standing on her toes to reach his height, and grabbed his hand as she gave him a small single peck on the cheek before turning and walking away. It wasn’t the French greeting or farewell. It wasn’t a meaningless friendly gesture. He could tell by the blush blossoming on her cheeks. And she could tell the same about him. She glanced over her shoulder and smiled back at him while waving.

 

She was already out of earshot by the time he actually responded, but he responded all the same. “Yeah. I look forward to it.” He knew in that moment that he would never get tired of seeing her smile. 

 

He didn’t notice until she was gone that she had slipped a small sheet of paper into his hand before she left. In large, neat, and rounded handwriting was the name  _ Samantha Moreau _ with ten digits written underneath it. He couldn’t help but laugh at the messy heart drawn in the corner. Dear God he felt like he was back in grade school. 

 

But honestly, he couldn’t complain. 

 

~ 

**_24 September, 2014_ **

 

_ Days turned to weeks turned to an entire month. It took him years to understand what exactly compelled him to stay for an entire month. Years.  _

 

“So . . . You’re really leaving tomorrow?” 

 

“Tomorrow morning, yes.” He could hear the disappointment in her voice as she asked. It was also written all over her face. He almost went as far as to say it broke his heart. Almost. He was upset that he couldn’t see her smile at that moment. “I’ve spent too much time away from home - away from work. It would be wonderful if I could stay longer, but . . .” 

 

Samantha sighed and leaned against Kyoya’s chest as they lounged on the couch in Kyoya’s hotel suite. “No, I understand. You’ve been here for a whole month, and you were already traveling before that. You’ve been away for a while. And at least you spent my birthday with me.” She looked up at him and gave him a sad smile. “I just wish you didn’t have to go.”

 

“You could come with me.” His response was sudden and his idea was spontaneous. He knew it’d be a political shitshow if Samantha actually came with him to Japan. He knew his father would shame him for being a womanizer and a reckless romantic like Tamaki’s father. But he couldn’t help but suggest it. He wanted her to come with him. He didn’t care that he just got divorced a few months ago. He didn’t care that he’s only known Samantha for a month. Kyoya was smart enough to know, even though he didn’t understand how, that he was in love with Samantha Moreau. 

 

“Kyoya . . .” 

 

“I’m serious, Sam. Come with me to Japan.”

 

She sat up and looked down at her hands in her lap. A small frown graced her lips and she sighed slow and long. “You know I’d love to. I want nothing more than to drop everything and fly to Japan with you tomorrow. But you know I can’t. I know my family would understand and support my wishes without hesitation, but your family is different. Your  _ life  _ is different, Kyoya.”

 

“I know but-”

 

“You just went through a divorce. Your family is still one of the most prominent families in Japan. I’m just a common girl from Paris. I know it’s awful to think like this, but you have a reputation to keep. I can’t waltz into your public life and pretend everything will go off without a hitch. You know it wouldn’t work that way.”

 

After a pregnant pause between the two, Kyoya sighed and pulled Samantha close so that she was lying on him again. “Is it wrong to say that I don’t care about any of that anymore?”

 

“That sounds very unlike you.”

 

He hummed in agreement and pressed a kiss to the crown of her head. “Maybe it’s all the time I’ve spent with Tamaki over the years. He’s influenced me too much.”

 

Samantha laughed and smiled against Kyoya’s chest. “I’d love to meet this Tamaki you keep mentioning. He seems like the complete opposite of you.”

 

“I feel like you two would get along fairly well. I mean, he does get along with almost everyone he meets.”

 

Samantha shifted her position so that she was resting her hands on Kyoya’s chest and using them to support her head. She smiled warmly at Kyoya and sighed again - she sighed a lot, he noticed. She looked as if she had something to say, but she said nothing. Content to remain smiling at Kyoya, she stared in silence until he spoke again.

 

“What?”

 

She raised an eyebrow. “What?”

 

“You look like you want to say something, but you’re not saying anything.”

 

Moving forward ever-so-slightly, Samantha laughed and took Kyoya’s glasses off of his face. “Your eyes.”

 

Kyoya took his glasses from Samantha and put them on the coffee table next to them. “What about my eyes?”

 

“They look purple. It’s pretty.” 

 

“Oh. Well thank you. It’s probably just the light, though-”

 

Without letting him finish his thought, Samantha moved up so that she was in line with Kyoya’s face, and kissed him softly on the lips. The kiss was sweet and slow, and it lingered long enough to end the conversation. It wasn’t the first time they kissed since the peck on the cheek they day they met, but something about this was different. Heavier almost, like it held more than just the simple display affection the two often shared. 

 

“I’m going to miss those eyes.” She kissed him again, this time for a moment longer. “I’m going to miss you, Kyoya.”

 

He ran his hands through her hair and kissed her back. “You know my offer still stands. It wouldn’t be difficult to get you a plane ticket for tomorrow”

 

In between kisses, Samantha laughed and shook her head. “Stop making business transactions and kiss me already.”

 

The kisses started out slow and sweet, but gradually became needy and passionate. Somehow, while the kissing intensified, Kyoya ended up flat on his back on the large hotel room couch while Samantha straddled him. She pulled away after another few minutes, panting and flushed, and smiled down at Kyoya, who looked just as lustful as she did. 

 

“What? Why are you smiling like that?”

 

She simply laughed and kissed him again, this one quick and sweet, before sitting back up. Kyoya propped himself up on his elbows and furrowed his brows in confusion until Samantha responded. “I think I’m in love with you.” 

 

He laughed. He threw his head back and laughed, loud and true. This was the first time she’d heard him laugh like that and she honestly couldn’t get enough of it. For such a naturally cool and stoic person, Kyoya had an infectious laugh. Trying her best not to laugh along with him, Samantha smacked his arm and forced down a smile. “It’s not funny! Why are you laughing at me?”

 

Regaining his composure enough to speak, Kyoya sat all the way up and cupped Samantha’s face in one of his palms, running his thumb over her cheek and smiling. “I’m not laughing at you, Sam. It’s just funny  . . .”

 

“What’s funny?”

 

Without hesitation, Kyoya replied with undeniable sincerity as he stared directly into Samantha’s eyes. “I’ve been in love with you from the moment you broke my glasses.”

 

Furrowing her brows and setting mouth into a small frown, Samantha huffed out a reply without a moment to lose. “How are you so good at that?”

 

“Good at what?”

 

“Everything. Flirting.”

 

He opened his mouth as to give some sort of logical reply, but Samantha cut him off before he had the chance by initiating another long kiss. They kissed for another drawn out minute before Samantha pulled away again, out of breath. “Since this is your last night here, maybe we should have a little more fun than usual.”

 

Knowing exactly what she was insinuating, Kyoya moved to hold onto Samantha’s hand and frowned. “Are you sure? I’m going back to Japan in the morning. After that I probably won't see you for another two or three months.” He studied her face as he continued, making sure to search for any kind of sign of reconsideration. “And I hate it but you were right about the politics surrounding my life. I can’t really commit to anything right now . . .” 

 

Without even a split second of hesitation, Samantha moved her hands to rest on either side of Kyoya’s face and leaned her forehead against his. Her bright blue eyes stared into his brownish-gray ones with so much purpose and power he was sure she could see every speck of color in his irises. “You just said you love me. And I just said I love you. I don’t care if whatever we have can’t be official yet. I don’t care if we have to hide this for a bit. I don’t care if we have to hide it  _ forever _ . As long as I know that this is  _ real _ , I’ll wait as long as I have to. So let’s keep this stupid secret-open relationship thing for as long as we need to, and when everything is finally in place, I’ll come to Japan.” She moved to kiss him again, bringing back the heat and need that was there just moments ago. “Now for tonight, let’s give each other something to remember each other by until next time.”

 

“I love you, Sam. I really do.”

 

She smirked and moved her hands to the top button of Kyoya’s shirt. “Good. I love you too. Now take off your clothes.”

 

~

 

**_25 September, 2014_ **

 

She held her coat in her arms and stared at her feet as he leaned against his car. “So.”

 

He sighed and reached out to grab her hand and pull her close. “It’s not like I’m dying, Sam. I’ll come back to visit as soon as I can.” He paused and brushed a few strands of hair behind her ear. “And you know my offer still stands. I have more than enough room for you in my home, and we both know you’ve already made room for yourself in my life.”

 

“Kyoya.”

 

“What? It’s true.”

 

She looked up at him and frowned, doing her best to fight the tears that were threatening to show themselves. “Saying stuff like that is just making this harder.”

  
  


“Sam, like I said, I’ll come back as soon as I can. And it’s not like we can’t talk to each other until then.”

 

Sighing, Samantha nodded and leaned into Kyoya’s embrace. “I know, I know.” She gave him another sad smile and leaned up to give him a chaste kiss before pulling away. “Promise you’ll visit soon?”

 

He nodded and laughed, kissing her hands as she walked toward her house. “I promise.” 

 

She stopped once she got to her front door and hugged her coat close to her chest. “I’ll miss you, Kyoya. I love you.”

 

“I love you too, Samantha. I’ll see you soon.” 

 

“What, you won’t miss me while you’re gone?” She moved to place her hands on her hips and spoke in a jokingly accusatory tone. 

 

Laughing again and opening the door to his car, Kyoya smiled at Sam and replied. “You know I will, Sam.”

 

The two stared at each other and smiled warm genuine smiles for a moment longer before Kyoya disappeared into his car and drove off toward the airport. No matter how hard she tried, Samantha couldn’t seem to hold back the tears as she watched him drive away. She knew she was an emotional and loving person, but she never knew one person she’d only known for a month could have this much of a hold on her heart. And even with Kyoya’s  _ “see you soon” _ still ringing in her ears, Samantha knew it would be an imagined eternity before she would get to see Kyoya Ootori again. 

 

She walked inside and fell onto her couch, defeated. Pulling out her phone, she sighed and let her tears dry on her cheeks as she sent a short text  -

 

_ I miss you already. God, how are you so annoyingly perfect? _

_I’m hardly perfect, Sam. But if it makes you feel any_ _better, I already miss you too._

  
  


~

 

**_2 November, 2014_ **

 

Neither of them expected a reunion this soon. Neither expected a reunion of this fashion. Yet, a little over a month later, Kyoya Ootori ended up having to take a business trip to meet with a business mogul in Paris, France. The day of his departure, Kyoya sent a plane ticket to Samantha Moreau to bring her to Paris. And on the night he arrived, even though he was severely jetlagged, the two of them were reunited after a seemingly endless month for dinner.

 

_“You didn’t have to send a plane ticket, Kyoya. I could have gotten to Paris fine on my_ _own.”_

 

_Kyoya nodded and smiled as he kissed her on the cheek and walked her into the exquisite_ _restaurant he had picked out for their lovely dinner. “That’s very true, but now I’ve saved_ _you the expense of traveling here on your own. Also it was very convenient to have a_ _you fly here rather than drive or take a train. It was quicker and cheaper for you.” As_ _the two sat down at their reserved table, Kyoya smirked at her (where was he learning_ _all of these expressions he never used unless absolutely necessary? He’ll just blame it on_ _Sam) and teased, “I thought you missed me? Wasn’t flying here much easier than a train_ _ride? You got to see me much faster that way.”_

 

_Scoffing, Samantha rolled her eyes and teased back. “If I remember correctly, you said_ _that_ you _missed me too. So that ridiculous plane ride - if I can even call it that (it was_ _more of a private jet ride) - was just as much for you as it was for me. And besides, I_ _don’t need charity from rich people, Kyoya.”_

 

_ “Don’t see it as charity, Sam. See it as a late birthday present.” _

 

_ “You already gave me plenty of birthday presents.” _

 

_ “So what’s one more?” _

 

_ “You’re absolutely ridiculous.” _

 

Dinner passed with ease as casual banter and flirtatious remarks fluttered between the two. Before they knew it, their meals were finished and they were headed back to Kyoya’s (yet again luxury to the point of obnoxious extravagance) hotel room, where both of them would be staying for the weekend.

 

_ ~  _

 

**_That same night_ **

 

After-dinner lounging was how the night began. But lounging turned to kissing. And kissing turned to  _ kissing  _ and touching and so much more - eventually a bed found its way underneath the two of them and their clothes found their way to the floor. 

 

Both Kyoya and Samantha had done this before, with each other and otherwise. They knew what to expect. They always came prepared - well almost always. 

 

“What do you mean you forgot to bring anything with you?! If I’ve known about this trip for a few months, then you’ve known about it for at least a little longer. And you’re telling me you didn’t even bring a single condom?”

 

“Come on, Sam. Sorry the first thing that goes through my mind when visiting France is that I get to have sex with my girlfriend. I was happy to see you, and I’m here on a business trip. Sex wasn’t the first thing on my mind.”

 

“Wait. Did you just -” She trailed off, eyes wide as she stared at Kyoya in shock. 

 

“What? Did I just what?”

 

The shock on her face melted into warmth and happiness, and a blush began to creep across her freckled cheeks. “You just called me your girlfriend. You’ve never done that before.”

 

“Hm. I guess I did.” He gave a small smile and began kissing her again - picking up where they left off. “It does only make sense. We’ve been seeing each other - or at least talking - for over two months now. It only makes sense that I call you something a little more official than my  _ friend _ .” 

 

“So we’re officially unofficial now.”

 

“That just sounds ridiculous.”

 

“Let us make our relationship public and you won’t have to deal with ridiculous titles.”

 

Kyoya sighed and leaned his forehead against Samantha’s. “Soon, Sam. I promise.”

 

Samantha smiled and cupped Kyoya’s cheek in her palm before kissing him softly and laughing. “I know, Kyoya. I was just teasing you. I know this is going to take time. I said I’d wait as long as I had to, remember?”

 

Kyoya stared into Samantha's eyes and sighed. “God I love you.”

 

Any ounce of tension or negative emotion previously held in Sam's body from exasperation at her boyfriend's lack of preparedness was gone in an instant. The pure contentment and adoration on Kyoya’s features and in Kyoya’s voice melted all of Sam's tension away. She sighed after him and shook her head. “Alright that's it. I'm completely convinced now.”

 

“About what?” 

 

“You're legitimately good at everything.”

 

“Well I wouldn't go that far-” 

 

“No. Shush. You're incredibly smart. You're unfairly attractive-”

 

“You know the same can be said about you-”

 

“You're charismatic. You are genuine and kind. You know how to flirt better than anyone I've ever known. You're pretty damn fit and healthy. You're truly perfect.” 

 

Kyoya shook his head and laughed before touching his forehead to Samantha’s again, leaving a hair’s width between their lips. “So are you, Sam. So are you.” He paused a moment before continuing, looking Sam straight in the eyes. “Now I think it’s my turn to say ‘ _ shut up and kiss me _ .’” 

 

Samantha let out a small chuckle backed by a wide, toothy grin. “Well, since you asked-”

 

Before she could even finish her small retort, Kyoya captured her lips in another heated liplock. She moaned into his mouth and wrapped her legs around his waist as she forgot what stopped this train in the first place. Whatever it was neither of them cared at this point. They were just glad to be back on track. 

 

~

 

**_20 February 2016_ **

 

_ A week earlier _

 

**_Sam_ ** _ : Hey babe, what’s your address again? Can you forward it in the little imessage thingy? _

 

**_My Love <3_ ** _ : yeah here _

_ * _ **_sent attachment*_ **

_ Why? _

**_Sam_ ** _ : I want to send you something! :) _

 

**_My Love <3 :_ ** _ you know you don’t have to do that _

_ We’re supposed to see each other in a few weeks _

_ Why not wait until then? _

 

**_Sam:_ ** _ Am I not allowed to send my boyfriend a gift?  _

_ Besides, my parents even think I should send this to you _

_ I don’t think this is something that can wait _

**_My Love <3: _ ** _ Should I be worried? _

_ This sounds a bit suspicious. _

 

**_Sam:_ ** _ Hm. No. I don’t think you should be worried _

_ I think you’ll enjoy this gift! At least I hope you will. _

_ Just expect a gift from me in about a week. _

 

**_My Love <3: _ ** _ Okay, Sam. Whatever you say. _

 

**_Sam:_ ** _ Trust me, Kyoya. This gift is definitely special. _

 

Throughout the months that turned into a little over a year, Kyoya and Samantha had still not publicized their relationship. From business trips to Paris, Marseilles, and Barcelona, to weekend getaways to Tokyo and Okinawa, the two did everything they could to keep up their officially-unofficial romance. One fateful night, however, led to a change in their relationship entirely. A change Samantha was more than aware of. A change that Kyoya was soon to find out. 

 

He was woken up at five in the morning, two days before his (for lack of a better word) niece and nephew would be born. None of them knew the twins would be born on the twenty-second of February, but for context’s sake, he was woken up two early mornings before. There were very few people Kyoya Ootori would get out of bed for before absolutely necessary. His sister being one (for some reason he could never be truly angry with Fuyumi) and his parents being the other two. The one time the host club got him out of bed did not count seeing as he nearly killed them and he wasn’t awake until a good while later. 

 

Needless to say, being woken up at five in the morning after finally getting to bed at a decent hour for the first time in ages irked Kyoya. Angered him, frustrated him - some might say it even enraged him. But for some reason Kyoya dragged himself out of bed to answer the incessant ringing of his doorbell (he was halfway tempted to rip the damn thing out of the wall). 

 

When he opened the door, however, all anger left him. He rubbed his eyes under his glasses and nearly jumped out of his skin at the sight before him. He was so shocked he couldn’t even register the words spoken to him before he replied. “Samantha. What are you doing here?” He let her in the house and closed the door quietly behind her, eyes still wide from the sight of his girlfriend at such a random hour. “I thought we weren't going to see each other again until next month.”   
  
Samantha sighed and brought her hands to her stomach, cuing Kyoya to shift his gaze downwards to where her hands fell. He could have sworn his heart fell to the pit of his stomach when he saw Samantha’s stomach.  _ There was no way . . . _

 

“Well, I know that's what we planned. But . . . the situation has changed since the last time we saw each other.”

 

Shaken out of his thoughts by Samantha’s words, Kyoya began to fully register the situation. “Wait. Last week when we were texting, you told me to expect a gift from you . . . Don’t tell me this is the gift . . .” 

 

Samantha smiled sheepishly and shrugged. “Surprise?” 

 

Her smile almost made Kyoya forget how shocked and confused he was. He hadn't seen that smile in six months. But as soon as he glanced back down at her stomach, panic threatened to take him over once more. “How did this happen?” 

 

“Kyoya, I know you're smarter than that.” 

 

He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. “You know what I mean, Sam. We were usually very safe.” 

 

“Usually being the operative word.” 

 

“I'm almost completely sure we only went without the condom twice.” 

 

Samantha shrugged again. “I guess twice was enough. One of us must be very fertile. Probably you seeing as you have three siblings and I'm an only child. Fertility doesn't really run in my family.” 

 

Kyoya ran his hands through his hair and over his face as they made their way to his living room. Samantha moved to sit on his couch as he continued to pace the floor. “What are we going to do? I don't know how to take care of a child. I barely know how to deal with Tamaki! My father's going to be furious. What will everyone say? We aren't even married!” He turned to Samantha mid rant and sighed. “Why didn't you tell me sooner?” 

 

Sam played with the bracelet on her wrist, a gift from Kyoya from seven months ago, and shrugged again. “I was afraid of what you'd say. I was scared that you'd be upset with me and leave.”

 

“You think I'd be as cruel as to leave you just because I got you pregnant?”

 

“I didn't want a child to be the only reason you stayed! I know you never wanted kids, Kyoya.” 

 

“Well, I don't really have much of a choice now, do I?” 

 

“I hope you realize that you just proved my point.”

 

“Well maybe I wouldn't be so on edge if you told me when you found out.”

 

“I wanted to tell you in person when the time was right.”

 

“How far along are you anyway? You look like you're, what, six months along? Did this happen because of the last time we saw each other?” 

 

“Eight months.” 

 

“What.” 

 

“I'm eight months along. I'm due around a month from now. You got me pregnant the time before last apparently.” 

 

“Samantha. Eight months?! So you already knew you were pregnant last time we were together?!” 

 

“No! I didn't know for sure. I thought I was just gaining a little weight and was sick for a little while. I had suspicions . . . but I was to afraid to check for sure.” 

 

“So you're telling me you  _ in all practicality  _ knew you were pregnant last time we were together, but you didn't check or tell me? And now you're saying you wanted to tell me in person? That was the perfect opportunity to let me know that I may or may not be a father in the coming months!” 

 

“This is exactly what I was afraid of.” She stood up and glared at Kyoya with tears threatening to fall from her eyes. “How could you ask why I didn't tell you and then act like this. I shouldn't have come.” 

 

As she turned to walk toward the front door, Kyoya sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose again. “Sam . . . Wait.” 

 

She took a deep shaky breath and crossed her arms over her chest. “What . . .”

 

“Stay here.”

 

“Why? Just so you can keep telling me how much you don’t want this child?”

 

He shook his head and moved closer to Samantha. “Move in with me. For good. I know I haven’t had the best reaction to this news . . . I’m sorry.”

 

“Don’t.”

 

“Don’t what?”

 

Samantha dropped her arms to her side and took another breath to steady herself. “I don’t want you apologizing for reacting honestly. I’d rather know how you felt now instead of finding out after she’s born-”

 

“She?”

 

“What? It’s not like I didn’t go to the doctor for this before seeing you.” 

 

“I didn’t expect you not to.”

 

Samantha looked up at him as the gap between them closed comfortably and naturally. “Then why do you seem so surprised?”

 

“I just didn’t know you were having a girl.”

 

“Is there something wrong with that?”

 

Kyoya let out a small laugh and smiled warmly at Samantha. “No. I just . . . I always said that if I had to have a child I’d want a girl.” 

Sam smiled wide and let out a small laugh. She put her palms on either side of Kyoya’s face and brought him into a slow and sweet kiss. “Well, then I guess it’s good that  _ we  _ are having a girl, isn’t it?”

 

Kyoya laughed and nodded, kissing Sam back before speaking. “We’re having a baby girl. We’re going to be parents.” His voice shook the slightest bit, where only Sam could hear the change. She could see happiness take his entire person over as he pressed his forehead against her’s and set his hands on either side of her stomach. “I love you so much. I’m so sorry for earlier.”

 

“You know I could never stay mad at you, Kyoya. I love you too. So so much.” 

 

~

 

**_17 March 2016_ **

 

It had been a little less than a month since Tamaki and Haruhi’s twins were born. A little less than a month since Samantha moved in with Kyoya. A little less than a month since Kyoya found out he was going to be a father. Realistically, he would have needed a fairly long adjustment period. Here was a man who had no intentions of ever having children, currently housing and sleeping with a woman is not his wife, but is carrying his child. He truly did love Samantha Moreau more than anyone in all of existence, but this was most certainly not how he intended on living his life. 

 

A little less than a month ago, Kyoya Ootori had been woken up at five in the morning, greeted by the love of his life and his unborn child. This morning, at five o’clock, Kyoya Ootori is to be woken up once more by the love of his life and unborn child. The only difference is that his currently unborn child is ready to be born. 

 

She woke up with a start, her entire body shouting at her to get out of bed. Almost immediately she knew what was happening. Reaching over to her side, Samantha grabbed onto Kyoya’s shoulder and started shaking him. She intended to be gentle but based on Kyoya’s reaction, it was sudden and forceful. 

 

Waking up with a start as well, Kyoya reached out to grab his phone from his nightstand. Squinting at the startlingly bright screen, Kyoya sighed and rubbed his free hand over his face. “Sam. It’s five in the morning. Why are you waking me up?”

 

“My water just broke.”

 

Kyoya sat up along with Samantha and put his glasses on while still rubbing his eyes. He yawned as he spoke, no sense of urgency coming from him at all. “Wait. What?”

 

“Kyoya. You come from a family of medical professionals. I’m positive you know what it means when a pregnant woman’s water breaks.”

 

“I know what it means, Sam. I just . . . Are you sure?”

 

“Of course I’m sure! Just take me to the stupid hospital already!” 

 

~    
  


Screaming. Pushing. Screaming. Sweating. Screaming. This process went on for at least four hours until the calm before the storm arrived. Samantha took deep labored breaths as she relaxed as much as she could against the pillows on her hospital bed. The contractions were done for a bit, twenty minutes at least. After that the worst of them would hit her. So she took this time to gather her strength and relax before her baby girl was born.

 

“Kyoya.”

 

He walked back over to the hospital bed and grabbed her hand, kissing her knuckles and smiling down at her. “Yes?”

 

“Did you tell my parents yet?”

 

Kyoya shook his head and rubbed his thumb over her knuckles. “No, not yet. I could go call them now if you want me to.”

 

She hummed and shook her head. “Just wait a few minutes. Stay here with me for right now.”

 

“Of course.” He pulled up a chair from the corner of the room and sat down next to Samantha, grabbing hold of her hand once more. “How are you feeling?”

 

“Not the best question to ask right now, babe. You can guess how I’m feeling by looking at me.”

 

“Fair enough.”

 

And so the two sat next to each other in relative silence for a peaceful twenty minutes. And they knew there twenty minutes was up right on the nose. Samantha knew her relative peace was over when her contractions started up again with a new found vigor. Kyoya knew their relative peace was over when Samantha nearly crushed every bone in his hand. The second Samantha began to release Kyoya’s hand, he peeled it away and moved to brush the hair out of her face and speak calmly to her. 

 

“Do you want me to call your parents now?”

 

Capturing Kyoya’s hand in her own once more, Samantha gripped tight and spoke through barred teeth. “There’s no way in hell you’re leaving me at a moment like this. We can call them once our daughter is born.”

 

Kyoya didn’t have a chance to reply before Sam’s contractions reached their peak. Through screaming and crying and Kyoya not having the slightest clue of what to do or how to comfort his screaming girlfriend, Samantha finally reached the end of labor. 

 

“She’s almost here, Miss Moreau. Just a little bit more.” 

 

“Just one more big push and it should be over, ma’am.”

 

“One. Two. Push!” 

 

Screaming. Screaming. And more screaming. The doctors didn’t lie. After that one final push Samantha and Kyoya were finally able to welcome their baby girl into the world. Zoe Moreau-Ootori. With dark black hair and pale eyes that would grow to be as vibrant and blue as her mother’s. 

 

The nurse brought Zoe over in her newborn wraps and handed her to a very emotional and exhausted Samantha. “Kyoya look. She’s so beautiful. She looks just like you.”

 

Kyoya moved to lean closer to Samantha and see his daughter. Samantha moved to hold Zoe out to him and smiled. “Here. Hold her.”

 

Without hesitating, Kyoya took Zoe into his arms and held her close. “She has your eyes, Sam.”

 

“Isn’t she amazing?”

 

“She really is, Sam. She really is.”

 

“We have a daughter, Kyoya. Our baby girl, Zoe.”

 

Kyoya continued to hold Zoe close as he brushed his thumb across the fine black hairs on her head. “Zoe Moreau-Ootori.” His voice broke as he reached his own surname, causing Sam to look over at him confused and worried. 

 

“Kyoya . . . Are you crying?”

 

Without answering her question, Kyoya kissed the top of Zoe’s head and let his tears fall freely. “We’re parents now, Sam. We have a baby girl. A beautiful baby girl.”

 

Samantha smiled warmly at him and started to cry as well. “Oh Kyoya . . .” 

 

Looking up from the child in his arms, Kyoya steadied his breath before speaking to Sam. “Marry me.” 

 

Her eyes went wide and the blush that was just starting to fade crept back across her cheeks. “What?”

 

He handed Zoe back to Samantha and moved out of his chair to get down on one knee. “Samantha Armelle Moreau.” He grabbed her free hand and kissed it. “I know this isn’t the proposal you wanted. I know I don’t have a ring yet. But . . . Will you marry me? I’ll get you a ring soon, I promise. Just - Will you please marry me?”

 

Pulling Kyoya close to her with whatever strength she had left, Samantha kissed Kyoya and smiled through her freely falling tears. “I don’t care about a ring or anything fancy like that. As long as I get to spend my life with you.”

 

“So you-”

 

“Yes! Of course I’ll marry you, Kyoya!” 

 

Kissing Sam long and slow, Kyoya smiled. “I love you so much.” He looked over at Zoe and ran his hand over her chubby newborn cheek. “Both of you.” 

 

“And we love you too. So damn much.”

 

~

**_27 February 2031 - 15 Years Later_ **

 

He spent most of his time in his office. That’s not to say he holed himself up in there and spent little to no time with his family, but he was a busy man, working working and working to maintain the lifestyle he and his family enjoyed - with his wife helping out as well of course. 

 

But, like most days, today Kyoya could be found typing away at his computer in his home office. His eyes were practically glued to his screen for most of the day. At least he worked from home though.

 

When the kids were younger, he spent less time locked in his office and more time entertaining two abnormally intelligent human beings who happened to have his genes. Even to this day, he isn’t sure how he ended up with two children when he planned on having a grand total of none, but he loved his family with all his heart - so who cares if his plans flew out the window. 

 

As he worked at his computer, Kyoya heard heavy footsteps walk behind him. Only two people in the house had footsteps that heavy, and one of them was currently in Marseille visiting her family for her father’s seventieth birthday. The footsteps stopped right behind him abruptly and made no move to continue.

 

“Hey dad?”

 

“Yes, Kazuto?” Kyoya knew it was his son behind him before he even spoke. The twelve year old boy inherited most of his traits from his mother, including his access to emotions Kyoya didn’t even know existed, a softer, rounder face, auburn tinted hair, freckles, and her incredibly heavy footsteps. Somehow Kazuto still looked a lot like Kyoya too, but there was no denying who his mother was by appearances. 

 

Kazuto sat on the edge of Kyoya’s large desk and swung his feet off the side. Kyoya had given up telling him to do anything but that. Kazuto never really listened to smaller, more unimportant rules like that. “Why don't any of you look different from high school? I mean. You do look a little older but the only thing that really changed is your hair.”

 

_ He always asks such odd questions.  _ Kyoya could never understand why his son said or did anything he said or did. Everyone knew Kyoya  _ unintentionally  _ favored his daughter, and while he has a great relationship with his son as well, the two are constantly at odds mentally and never seem to understand each other. Without looking up from his work, Kyoya responded. “We're all healthy and age well apparently. Genetics probably play into it as well.”

 

“Oh. Okay.” The acceptance of his father’s answer was met by silence. Kyoya had nothing else to say - he had already given his answer. Kazuto continued to sit and swing his legs softly. After a minute, he sighed and looked up at the unmoving ceiling fan.

 

The sigh is what made Kyoya look up from his work. The small sigh Kazuto let out made Kyoya sigh internally, silently cursing how much this boy was like Samantha. “Is there something you wanted to talk about?” 

 

“Well . . . is Zoe the only reason you and mom never had a real wedding?” One thing Kyoya was most grateful for was the fact that Kazuto did not dance around topics or questions as Samantha did. He was honest and straightforward. No matter how random his questions seemed. 

 

“Why are you asking?” 

 

“Well. . . -” He  took a deep breath. It was barely noticeable, but Kyoya most definitely noticed. He knew his work was not getting done tonight. “-your 15 year anniversary is coming up right after Zoe’s birthday. And mom always talks about how much she loves weddings and stuff like that. Which is why she was so excited to go to Hikaru and Chris’ wedding when we were little. And i don't know why but she has been talking about weddings and romantic stuff a lot more lately. Especially with Zoe. I kinda figured it was because it's been almost fifteen years and you two still haven't had a wedding. But i don't know.” 

 

Taken aback. Kyoya was not one to be taken aback easily, but something about the conversation Kazuto was sparking made him do a mental double-take. “Wait. What?”

 

“Mom and Zoe have been all romantic and sappy lately. I think they’ve watched at least fifty chick-flicks within the past five days. I feel like the only reason Zoe hasn’t been watching them today or yesterday is because Mom went to Marseille last night.” 

 

Kyoya turned to fully face his son at this point, carefully calculating what to say next. “So. You believe that the reason behind your mother’s current affinity for romantic movies is that the two of us eloped after your sister was born?”

 

“Well honestly yeah. That and I was honestly curious if Zoe was the only reason you eloped.”

 

Before Kyoya had a chance to respond, Zoe knocked on the doorframe and leaned into the room to address her father and brother. “They’re almost finish with dinner. We should probably set up our plates now.”

 

Kyoya stood up from his chair and turned back towards Kazuto. “Why don’t we talk about this at dinner?”

 

“Talk about what?” Zoe stood against the doorframe, waiting for her family to follow her. 

 

Walking past Zoe towards the dining room, Kyoya sighed and responded plainly. “Why your mother and I eloped instead of having an actual wedding.”

 

Once everything was set up for dinner, Kyoya and his two children sat down for a family meal. It did feel a bit off though, considering Samantha wasn’t there and she’s the main reason Kyoya has family meals in the first place. As they started eating, Kyoya remained quiet, hoping Kazuto’s teenage attention span would allow the previous conversation to remain long forgotten. Fortunately, it did. But unfortunately for Kyoya, Zoe joined in the tail end of the conversation, so she brought it up instead. 

 

“So, Dad . . . I thought you and Mom eloped because you wanted to get married as fast as possible after I was born.”

 

Finishing his mouthful of food, Kyoya looked over at Zoe and begrudgingly continued the previous conversation. “Well, your birth was one of the main reasons we eloped. But there was more to it than that.”

 

Kazuto rolled his eyes and poked at his food as his father spoke. “You could’ve just said that when I asked.”

 

“Kazuto, you added a lot more to the conversation than just the context our marriage.”

 

Zoe flicked a balled up corner of her napkin at her brother to shut him up. “He’s not gonna tell us anything if you keep being dumb, Kazuto.” She turned back to Kyoya and urged him to continue. “So, if it wasn’t just because of me, then why else didn’t you have a big wedding? I mean everyone knows that Mom has always wanted a fairy tale wedding.”

 

“There were multiple reasons. First off, your mother and I hadn’t even made our relationship public yet.”

 

Kazuto nearly choked on his food as he interrupted his father, shocked. “Wait - So you and Mom weren’t even really dating when Zoe was born? What the hell, Dad?”

 

Kyoya sighed and rubbed his eyes under his glasses. “We were dating, Kazuto. We just didn’t really tell anyone about our relationship before then. The only ones who knew were her parents. It would have been a mess in the media and with my parents if anyone found out that I already had a new lover only months after my divorce.” 

 

Zoe joined back in the conversation to prevent her brother from interrupting Kyoya again. “So how long were you and Mom together before I was born?”

 

“A little over a year. Probably closer to eighteen months. But neither of us really knows when we went from -” He paused, trying to think of the best word to describe the relationship he had with Samantha before they started dating. “-what we were before to dating.”

 

“ _ What you were before _ ? Really, Dad? So you and Mom were just like friends with benefits or something and then it turned into dating?”

 

Zoe turned to glare at her brother. “Kazuto do you ever stop talking?”

 

“Well now that you said that, absolutely not.”

 

Kyoya sighed at his children’s antics and cleared his throat to get their attention. “It’s starting to seem like neither of you actually wanted to hear any of this.”

 

Turning back to Kyoya, Zoe pouted and scooted her chair closer to him. “Please, Dad! I really want to know. Just ignore Kazuto.”

 

“Alright, alright.” He thought for a minute on where they left off before continuing. “So, two of the main reasons we eloped were your birth, Zoe, and the speed at which I moved on from my previous marriage. The main reason, though, was a mix between practicality and urgency to be married.”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“I knew, from shortly after the moment we first met, that I was in love with her. So when I proposed to her in the hospital after you were born, it wasn’t  _ because  _ you were born. It was more of an emotional urgency. I got tired of waiting and so did she. So, we decided to elope because it was the fastest and most practical way to be married.”

 

Kazuto stopped eating and spoke up without interrupting anyone. “Holy crap. That was actually really freaking adorable.”

 

“Wait, so you and Mom came up with the idea to elope together?”

 

Kyoya nodded and adjusted his glasses. “We were both thinking about it, but she was actually the one to suggest it.”

 

Zoe crossed her arms and furrowed her eyebrows in confusion. “That doesn’t make sense then. If she was the one to bring it up, why is she all emotional about the fact that you never had a real wedding?” 

 

“Has she really been bringing it up a lot lately?”

 

Zoe sighed and sat back in her chair. “She has been bringing it up every chance she gets. She’s been incredibly emotionally lately, Dad. And, like, I love Tangled and everything, but we’ve watched it five times in the past week and she cries every time. It’s getting to be a bit much at this point.”

 

“How is it that I haven’t noticed any of this?”

 

“Yeah Dad. Why haven’t you noticed?” Kazuto spoke through a mouthful of food.

 

“Kazuto, shut up.” Zoe turned back to her father and sighed. “Well I mean she has been throwing all of her emotional turmoil on me lately, so it’d be easy for you to not notice . . . Do you think that maybe she’s acting like this because your anniversary is coming up?”

 

Swallowing his mouthful of food, Kazuto leaned back in his chair and threw his arms up. “That’s what I said!”

 

Kyoya sat back in his chair as well, crossing his arms as he tried to figure out what was going on. “She hasn’t acted like this for any other anniversary that we’ve had.”

 

Zoe shrugged and leaned against her palm. “Well fifteen is a pretty important number. Also Hikaru and Chris just had their ten year anniversary. They both posted a picture from the wedding for it. Her sappy state that she’s in now kinda started when she saw their anniversary posts.”

 

“How do I fix this?”

 

Kazuto raised one of this eyebrows and groaned, making his exasperation known. “Dad. You and Mom have been married for almost fifteen years. I would hope you know how to cheer her up by now better than we do. I mean you two are in love, right? Zoe and I are just the products of that love. We can only do so much to cheer Mom up in this situation.”

 

“Yes, we are in love. But her emotions still confuse me sometimes, Kazuto. If anyone in this house were to understand all of her emotions, it’d be you, seeing as you’re practically her clone.”

 

Zoe rolled her eyes and sighed. “Dad, Kazuto may be Mom’s clone but he is terrible with romance. How could someone with no interest in romance or anything like that help cheer up a lovesick wife? It’s just impossible.”

 

“Well then what do  _ you  _ think I should do, Zoe?”

 

Zoe leaned back and crossed her arms again, tapping her finger against her chin as she considered her options. “Well . . . Do you have anything planned for your anniversary yet?”

 

Kyoya moved to clean his glasses as he spoke. “Nothing other than what we do every year. Dinner and a night spent in the city like usual.”

 

“I have a request for my birthday, then.”

 

Kazuto scoffed and rolled his eyes at his sister. “There she goes, always making it about herself.”

 

Ignoring his son’s comment, Kyoya questioned his daughter’s reasoning. “I thought we already made plans for your birthday? What does this have to do with my anniversary?”

 

Without a moment’s hesitation, Zoe crossed her arms once more and smirked. “For my fifteenth birthday, I want you and Mom to have a real wedding.”

 

Kyoya almost choked on his food as Zoe spoke. “What?! You do understand how long it takes to plan a wedding, right Zoe? Your birthday is in a little over two weeks. There is no way we can plan it by then. And we all know how your mother deals with stressful things like event planning. Just the idea of planning a wedding in two weeks would give her a panic attack.”

 

“Make it a surprise wedding.” 

 

Zoe and Kyoya both turned to look at Kazuto, staring at him silently as if he had ten heads. He shrugged and looked between both of them. “What? Mom loves surprise parties. Think of how much she’ll love a surprise wedding for her. It’ll be amazing! You said I’d be the one able to understand Mom the most. I  _ know  _ this is what will make it the most amazing wedding ever for her.”

 

Kyoya sighed and ran his hand through his hair. “Still. . . Two weeks? How can I plan my own wedding in two weeks without my bride?”

 

Zoe laughed and looked back and forth between Kazuto and Kyoya  before settling on her father. “C’mon, Dad. Everyone knows you planned Tamaki and Haruhi’s wedding in three weeks. And you had to deal with Tamaki freaking out the entire time. Now you have two kids to help you that know your bride almost as well as you do. Plus, you both share the same best friend, so he can definitely help. And you have nine other close friends that can help. This will be a piece of cake.” 

 

“I’m not sure you two understand how much goes into planning a wedding. And while I did have to deal with Tamaki’s antics the entire time, I had Haruhi to help me plan their wedding. And how is your mother supposed to get a dress if the entire thing is a surprise?”

 

Zoe pulled her phone out and started typing as she spoke to her father. “Do you know Mom’s dress size? If not I can figure it out I think.”

 

“Of course I know her dress size. I buy her a new dress for her birthday and our anniversary every year.” 

 

“Then she’ll have a dress. I know Mom’s style and the type of dress that she wants. I’m texting Kaoru and Natalia now so that they can help with the dress and whatnot. Honestly I would’ve texted Bella but she’s too excitable. It would have taken hours to get her to listen to the plan.”

 

“Uh. Zoe?” Kazuto cleared his throat to get his sister’s attention. “What exactly is the plan? I’m pretty sure Dad is just as confused as I am about what to actually do.”

 

She held up her finger in a  _ one-minute  _ gesture and continued to type away on her phone with the other hand. After a short moment, she put her phone down and moved to finish her dinner. “Okay we need to finish eating now. We’re about to have a six-way phone call with everyone else to figure out this plan.”

 

Kyoya stared at his daughter, dumbfounded and still attempting to process everything that has happened so far. Twice today he was taken aback. And it was barely six in the afternoon. “How do you even have all of their phone numbers.”

 

In between bites of his food, Kazuto spoke for Zoe. “All of the kids are friends, Dad. It’s not that hard to get the phone numbers of our friends’ parents. That and Zoe is weird and friends with adults.”

 

The only thing Kyoya thought as the three of them finished dinner was,  _ why couldn’t they be normal like Sam.  _

 

~

 

**_20 March 2031_ **

 

**_Zoe:_ ** _ Remember, Dad. You have to go through with this because it’s my birthday present. Love you!! <3 _

 

**_Zoe:_ ** _ BTW she’s on her way now! _

 

Kyoya was almost positive his children would send him to an early grave. Zoe especially. Here he was, the day before his fifteenth wedding anniversary, waiting at the edge of his private beach in Okinawa for his wife. So that he could propose to her. Again. After fifteen years. All he was thinking was how unnecessary this whole ordeal was. But, then again, if it was for Samantha, it was worth it. 

 

After another minute or two of standing by the beach and arguing with his daughter about her birthday present choices over text, Kyoya heard Samantha approach him.

 

“It’s been a while since we’ve made a trip here.”

 

Kyoya turned around to face his wife and smiled at her. “You’re right, it has. I think the last time we came here was when the kids were still little.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her close to kiss her and wrap her in a gentle embrace. “How was your day with Zoe?”

 

She leaned into his hug and sighed contently against his chest as she wrapped her arms around his waist. “It was lovely. I’ve never had a spa day with her before. I was actually surprised she suggested it.” She looked up at Kyoya and smirked knowingly. “How was your day with Kazuto? Is he still an enigma to you?”

 

Kyoya laughed and kissed the top of Sam’s head. “Honestly he’s more of an enigma now than he was before. We had fun, going around town and whatnot, but I still never understand his actions. He’s so odd.”

 

Samantha poked Kyoya’s chest playfully and laughed. “Well he is your son. There’s no way he can have your DNA and not be a little weird.”

 

“Are you calling me weird?”

 

“That is definitely a possibility.” 

 

Kyoya hummed and hugged her close again. “That’s why you married me, right?”

 

“Not at all.” She joked. “I married you for your secret to eternal youth.”

 

Kyoya pulled away but kept his hand linked with Samantha’s. “Either way, you married me. So the reasoning doesn’t matter at this point.”

 

Samantha laughed again and smiled warmly at her husband. “I guess you’re right. Like always.”

 

Kyoya gestured toward the beach and gave Samantha’s hand a light squeeze. “Walk with me. It’s almost sunset. And I know how much you love the romance of watching the sunset with your husband.”

 

Samantha gasped, mockingly. “How did you know!? It’s almost like we’ve been married for fifteen years or something!” 

 

Kyoya rolled his eyes and laughed. “You’re hilarious, Sam. Absolutely hilarious.”

 

As the two walked along the beach, hand-in-hand, the witty banter turned to mushy confessions of love - if they could even be called that after fifteen years of marriage. The two ended up sitting near the edge of the tide, letting the waves wash over their feet as the sun sank into the horizon. 

 

Samantha sighed and leaned against Kyoya’s shoulder. “This is beautiful.”

 

“Not as beautiful as you.”

 

Sam scoffed and looked up at Kyoya, rolling her eyes. “Oh, come on, hun. Really?”

 

“What? I’m serious, Sam. Nothing is as beautiful as you.”

 

She laughed and leaned back against his shoulder. “Whatever you say. But you know, I could say the same about you.”

 

Kyoya let out a soft laugh, grabbing hold of Samantha’s hand again and kissing the top of her head. “I know there’s no way I’d win that argument, so - as you said - whatever you say.”

 

Falling back into a comfortable silence, the two watched the sky turn to dark shades of purple and black as the moon and stars lit up the night sky. The silence could’ve gone on forever if Sam hadn’t gotten up. She turned around to face the mansion where a few lights were still on - the kids’ rooms probably. Without turning to look at Kyoya, she brushed her legs and sundress off and spoke. “We should probably head back to the house now. Zoe wanted me to make her favorite brownies tonight.”

 

_ Perfect timing.  _ “I think she’s patient enough to wait until we get back to Tokyo for those brownies.”

 

Samantha turned back around to Kyoya as she spoke. “But this is her birthday trip so-  _ mon dieu _ .”

She stopped mid-sentence when she turned to see Kyoya behind her on one knee, holding out a diamond ring similar, but more elegant and newer than the one she already had on. “Kyoya, wha-”

 

“I know I’m fifteen years late on this, probably more. But, if you’ll let me, I’d like to finally give you your fairy tale wedding.” He held onto her hand with one of his and held the ring up in the other. “Samantha Armelle Ootori, would you do me the honor of marrying me again - the right way?”

 

With one hand over her mouth, holding back sobs, and the other still in Kyoya’s own, Samantha nodded vigorously as her eyes brimmed with tears. After Kyoya replaced Samantha’s old ring with her new one, he stood up and pulled her into a passionate kiss.

 

Once they finally broke apart, Kyoya leaned his forehead against Samantha’s and sighed. “I’m so sorry it took me this long to do this properly.”

 

Sam moved to cup Kyoya’s face in her hand and kiss him chastely. “Hun, don’t be. I already told you that I didn’t care as long as I got to marry you. I really meant that.”

 

“But you’ve always wanted a big fairy tale wedding.”

 

Samantha laughed and kissed him again. “Well now I’m gonna get one. I love you so much.”

 

Kyoya brushed some of Sam’s hair behind her ear and smiled. “I love you too. So much.”

 

She leaned against Kyoya’s chest as he brought her into another hug, kissing the top of her head once more. She smiled against his chest and laughed quietly. “I can’t wait to start planning my dream wedding.”

 

“About that.”

 

Sam pulled away from Kyoya and frowned at him. “What about it?”

 

“Well you won’t get to plan it.”

 

“Why not?”

 

“Because it’s already planned. And happening tomorrow.”

 

Samantha’s eyes went wide enough for her bright blue irises to shine almost as bright as the moon. “What?! I don’t even have a dress! None of our friends or family members besides our kids are here! Kyoya, what were you thinking!?”

 

Kyoya laughed and rubbed over Sam’s shoulders to calm her down. “Sam. Breathe. You know I would never be that careless with planning something as important as this. The wedding is happening tomorrow. Zoe had help from Kaoru and Natalia to get a custom made dress for you-”

 

“But-”

 

“No, I haven’t seen it. Don’t worry. I know you don’t want me to see it before the wedding.”

 

Samantha moved her hand to start playing with the tips of her hair as her panic dissipated somewhat but not entirely. “What if I don’t like the dress?”

 

Kyoya brushed some of Sam’s hair behind her ear and smiled. “Sam. Zoe helps me pick out almost every dress I get for you each year. And you’ve always said that you loved Kaoru and Natalia’s work. I promise - even if I have no idea what it looks like - you’re going to love it.”

 

She sighed and moved back to leaning against Kyoya’s chest. “Who all is going to be here? Because - you know - I don’t want a huge wedding. Like not really small but not really big either. Medium sized.”

 

Kyoya laughed and kissed the top of Samantha’s head as he hugged her close. “It’s a surprise. But don’t worry. It’s going to be a perfectly medium sized wedding. Zoe’s actually been listening to you lately, Sam. I’m actually starting to think that our kids are getting to know you better than I do.”

 

Samantha scoffed and rolled her eyes. “Hun, you know that’s not true. We both know that you know me even better than I know myself.”

 

“Oh. But speaking of the kids. We should probably get back to the house before Zoe calls me to yell at me because of how late it’s getting.” He pulled apart from his wife (fiancee again?) and grabbed her hand. “And be ready because as soon as we get back into the house, Zoe is going to steal you away from me. The whole night before the wedding nonsense.”

 

Samantha gasped and her hand flew to her mouth. “Oh no! We’re getting married tomorrow! You’re not allowed to see the bride before the wedding!” 

 

Laughing, Kyoya pulled Samantha along behind him. “Well then, come on. Our daughter is waiting to lock you away until tomorrow.”

 

~

 

**_21 March 2031_ **

**_Kyoya and Samantha’s 15 year anniversary - and the day of their actual wedding._ **

 

_ 8:00 AM  _

 

Samantha nearly fell out of bed when she heard the bedroom door slam open, startling her awake. “Rise and shine, Mom! It’s your wedding day!” 

 

She would never claim to be a late riser or an early riser. Samantha usually woke up when she had to, though she did prefer it to be at least nine in the morning before she started her day. Her daughter, on the other hand, found it impossible to sleep in past seven-thirty. So now she was woken up, before her body was ready to be woken up, by an overly-enthusiastic fifteen year-old on the day she was set to marry her already-husband. Today was already a confusing mess of excitement and anxiety and it had just barely begun. 

 

Samantha groaned and brought her blanket up to cover her face as she felt Zoe flop on the bed next to her. “Moooooommmmmmmmm. You have to get up now. There’s a lot of stuff to be done still and everyone’s going to start arriving in a few hours.”

 

Pulling the blanket down enough to look Zoe in the eyes, Samantha mumbled a quick question. “Are  _ you  _ gonna tell me who all is coming?”

 

Zoe rubbed the back of her neck and sighed. “Dad told me I’m not allowed to tell you. Apparently he really want’s to keep up Kazuto’s whole surprise wedding idea.” She reached over and pulled her bundled up mother into a hug and laughed. “Don’t worry though, Mom. Today is all about you. This will be better than the wedding you’ve been dreaming about for years.” She sat up and tugged at the blanket that Samantha held close to her face. “But c’mon, Mom. Natalia and Kaoru are gonna be here soon with your dress. We need to finish fitting it for last minute alterations. I’ll go draw a nice hot bubble bath for you, okay? And don’t worry. Dad’s on the complete opposite side of the house so Kazuto is making sure you two don’t see each other until the wedding.”

 

_ 12:00 PM _

 

“Dad!” Kazuto shouted for his father from across the small grassy cliffside where everything was being set up for the wedding later that evening.  “Are you sure there’s enough chairs here?”

 

Kyoya walked over to his son and scanned over the two sets of chairs. “There should be twenty three on each side.”

 

“Are you sure that we’re only going to have forty-six people? Didn’t we invite more?”

 

Kyoya looked over the list on his tablet that he was using to delegate set up to everyone who was helping. “We could’ve invited more people, but your mother didn’t want a large amount of people. I’d say since we’re verging on fifty guests, we should be fine with this number. This should be enough seats for both of our families and all of our friends and their respective families.”

 

Kazuto adjusted his glasses in a similar fashion to that of his father and sighed contently. “Well. Then all the chairs are set up, decorated, and labeled.”

 

“It looks great. Thank you, Kazuto.” Kyoya looked back at his tablet for a moment before continuing. Now, everyone is to start arriving any minute now, so if you could head to the front gate and help your sister show everyone where they’ll be staying that would be wonderful.”

 

“I thought Zoe was helping Mom get ready?”

 

“Well Kaoru, Natalia, and Isabella are helping with that. And also I called in our two stylists to help out if needed. Since you and your sister know the layout of the house the most, I think it would be smartest for you two to show everyone where to go.”

 

Kazuto put his hands in his pockets and nodded. “So who’s gonna be here first?”

 

“I believe Tamaki and Haruhi will be the first to arrive with their children. Tamaki insisted on getting here early to help set everything up. After that your grandparents and aunt should be here.”

 

“Wait. Your mom and dad, or Mom’s mom and dad?”

 

“Mine.”

 

Kazuto groaned and started trudging towards the house. “I was so ready to practice my French, too.” 

 

Going back to setting up, Kyoya called after Kazuto and sighed. “You can practice your French on Tamaki then. He should be here first. Send him back here once they arrive.”

 

_ 2:00 PM _

 

Samantha paced the room in her silk white robe with the word  _ BRIDE  _ printed on the back. The pre-wedding jitters were officially starting to set in as she watched Natalia finish steaming and fluffing her wedding gown. “So when again is the ceremony starting?”

 

Looking over from where she was standing next to her mother as she held any supplies she might need, Isabella replied calmly and smiled at Samantha. “From what Zoe told me this morning, everyone should have started arriving at noon. And then everyone will start preparing for the ceremony and being seated by five-thirty. The ceremony starts right around six so that it’s over right around sunset.”

 

Samantha stopped her pacing and started playing with her hair. “And what time is it now?”

 

Bella held the supplies in one hand and checked her phone with the other. “It’s a little after two.” 

 

Sam’s pacing picked up and faster at Isabella’s answer. “ _ Mon dieu.  _ That means we only have around three hours to finish getting ready. What if we don’t get ready in time? What if everyone doesn’t get here in time? I still don’t even know who all is coming. This is too much. I need to see Kyoya.”

 

Natalia got up from primping the dress and calmly walked over to Sam, putting her hands on either of her shoulders. “No you don’t. I promise it just seems like everything is happening too fast because you’re excited. And probably a bit nervous. I was the same way when I got married.”

 

Sam took a deep breath to try and steady herself. “But what if something goes wrong? This entire process has been happening so fast. Zoe told me that this was planned in two weeks! How is that enough time to plan a wedding?”

 

Nat laughed and pulled Samantha into a quick hug. “Sam. Your husband is the most intelligent and competent person I know. And I know for a fact that he absolutely adores you. You need to trust that he did this right. Do you love and trust him?”

 

“Of course I do. What kind of question is that?”

 

“Then trust that everything is planned meticulously. You know how attention-to-detail Kyoya is. Hell, Zoe’s the same way. If the two of them were in charge of this whole thing, then there’s no way anything is going to fall through. Trust me, Sam. Everything is going exactly according to plan.”

 

Taking another deep breath and nodding, Samantha tucked her hair behind her ears and smiled. “Okay. I trust you.”

 

Just before Natalia moved back to finish up the dress, a small knock could be heard on the bedroom door. Bella set down her mother’s supplies and moved to answer the door. “I got it.” When she opened the door, a six year old Niccola Hitachiin-diLazzaro stood before her, playing with the sleeves of her dress. “Oh. Nik. What’s up?”

 

Niccola peaked her head into the room and hummed nervously. “Uhm. Do you know where Oji is? Daddy was looking for him.”

 

Bella looked over her shoulder at Natalia. “Where’d Dad go? Didn’t he say he was going to find Hika and the two stylists Kyoya called in to help with hair and makeup?”

 

Without looking up from her work, Natalia nodded and replied to her daughter. “Yeah. He said he’d be back in fifteen minutes to start getting Sam ready. Why?”

 

Bella turned back to her cousin. “He actually just went to go find Hika.”

 

Still nervously twiddling with the hems of her sleeves, Niccola nodded. “Oh. Okay.”

 

Noticing that her cousin wasn’t moving, Bella crouched down to her level and grabbed one of her hands. “What’s wrong Nik? Did you need something else?”

 

Niccola squeezed Bella’s hand tight and nodded. “Well. Uhm. I was wanting to say hi to Zia. If that’s okay? Papa said she was here and I wanted to say hi. I miss her.”

 

Isabella laughed and lead Niccola into the room, closing the door behind them. “Hey, Mom. You have a visitor.” 

 

Natalia looked up from her work, confused. When she saw her niece’s face, however, she broke out into a huge smile and held her arms out for the six year old. “Niccola, my sweet girl! You look so pretty!” 

 

Nik laughed and ran to give her aunt a huge hug. She then gasped when she turned to see Samantha standing in the room as well. “Sammy!” The six year old gave Samantha the endearing nickname when she first learned who Samantha was. For reasons unknown to everyone in the friend group, Niccola became very attached to Samantha almost immediately. “Papa said I wouldn’t be able to see you until later because you are really busy!” 

 

Samantha picked Niccola up and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Well, Zia and Bella are helping me get all pretty for the party in a few hours.”

 

Nik cocked her head in confusion and held onto Samantha. “But, you’re already super pretty, Sammy! Zia doesn’t need to help you with that stuff!” 

 

“Well thank you, sweet girl. But I need to be even prettier for later. Even Oji and your Daddy are helping me with my hair and makeup.”

 

She scoffed and rolled her eyes. “What does  _ Daddy  _ know about making people pretty? If anyone knows about being super pretty it’s Papa!” 

 

Isabella laughed and sat on the edge of the bed. “I guess we know who Nik’s favorite is.”

 

Niccola squirmed excitedly in Samantha’s arms and squealed. “Papa told me you and Kyo-san are getting married! Kyo-san is super pretty too.” The child sighed and rested her head against Samantha’s shoulder. “I wanna get married.”

 

The three other ladies in the room laughed as Samantha tucked a stray hair behind Niccola’s ear. “I think you’re too little for that right now, sweetie.”

 

“That’s what Daddy and Papa said too. It’s not fair!” 

 

The three laughed again until Natalia stood up and turned back towards Samantha. “Well. The dress is done. Now we just wait for Kaoru and Hikaru to get in here.”

 

As if on cue, as soon as Natalia finished speaking, a knock was heard at the door. Bella, who was playing on her phone, called out to her father. “You can come in, Dad. And Hika.”

 

The door opened and the twins walked in the room. Niccola squealed when she saw her uncle, but she squirmed and reached out of Samantha’s arms when she saw her father. “Daddy!” 

 

Hikaru took his daughter from Samantha’s arms and kissed her on the cheek. “What are you doing in here, Nik? You’re supposed to be with Papa.”

 

Niccola hugged her father close and whined. “I just wanted to see Zia. And I got to see Bella and Sammy too!” 

 

Hikaru laughed and fixed his daughter’s dress. “I see that! Now why don’t you go sit with Bella so we can help Sammy get ready for the wedding?”

 

“Okay!” Hikaru set Nik down and she ran over to sit next to Bella on the large bed. “Don’t mess up, Daddy! Sammy’s gotta stay super pretty! Like Papa!” 

 

_ 5:00 PM  _

 

“Zoe. Are your grandparents here yet?” 

 

She finished fixing Antoine’s tie (a common occurrence between the young couple) and turned to her father. “Dad, they got here right after  _ they  _ got here.” She gestured to her boyfriend as she spoke. 

 

“No. Not my parent’s. I’m well aware of the fact that my mother and father are here. I’m talking about your mother’s parents.”

 

“Oh.” Zoe put a finger on her lip as she thought. “No. I’m pretty sure they’re not here yet. I was just on the phone with Grandma though. They should be here shortly.” 

 

“Do they mean shortly as in an hour or shortly as in a few minutes?”

 

Zoe could hear the small amount of panic beginning to lace her father’s voice. “Dad, calm down. Mom’s parent’s are pretty old-”

 

“They’re just about the same age as my parents, Zoe.”

 

Zoe groaned and moved closer to her father, straightening his tie as well. “Well yeah. But they are a lot . . . physically older, I guess. They haven’t kept up with their health as much as your parents have. So it might take them a minute. But I promise. Grandma said they’d be here before five-thirty. Everything else is set up, and Mom is just about finished getting ready. Everything is gonna be fine.” Zoe adjusted the white rose on her father’s lapel and smiled. “And besides, even if - and it’s a strong  _ if  _ \- everything goes wrong, you and Mom are already married. So it’s not like anything can mess that up.”

 

Tamaki walked up not a moment later and cleared his throat to get Kyoya’s attention. “Kyoya. Samantha’s family is finally here.”

 

As Tamaki finished his sentence, Samantha’s mother and father, along with her aunt, uncle, and three closest cousins were seen walking out of the back door of the mansion. As soon as Zoe saw her grandparents she squealed and ran to greet them. “Mémé! Pépé!”

 

The elderly couple laughed and pulled Zoe into a tight group hug. Once the three separated Coralie Moreau cupped her granddaughter's face in both of her hands and kissed both cheeks. “My sweet. You look even more beautiful than the last time we saw you!” 

 

Kyoya approached the group as Zoe greeted her extended family, with Tamaki and Antoine close behind. Edmond, Samantha’s father, noticed Kyoya approaching and smiled wide. “Kyoya, my boy!” He kissed his son in law on both cheeks and brought him into a tight hug as he did Zoe. “You haven’t aged a day since you last visited!” Without giving Kyoya a chance to reply, Edmond continued speaking in his loud and brash manner as he usually did. “It’s about time you gave my daughter a real wedding! She’s been dreaming of a moment like this since she was a girl.” Edmond had a tendency to change topic rapidly and without warning. His topic changed usually occured when something else caught his eye. This something happened to be Tamaki. “Rene! It’s been too long! The last time I saw you in person was ten years ago! I still can’t believe Samantha got you to come visit us with her. It’s a shame it was just the two of you, though. I would’ve loved to actually meet your family.” 

 

“Edmond. Coralie. I’ve missed you both dearly.” Tamaki greeted both of his secondary parents with a smile. “I know it has been much too long. But my family is here with me today. In fact -” Tamaki turned around to see if Antoine was still standing behind him. He gestured to his son, beckoning the fifteen year old forward. “-this is my son, Antoine.”

 

Edmond reached out to shake a very nervous Antoine’s hand. He raised an eyebrow and looked over at Zoe as he shook Ant’s hand. “Antoine, eh? Zoe, darling. Is this the young man attempting to woo you?” 

 

Zoe laughed as Antoine turned a deep shade of red. “There’s no attempting, Pépé. Antoine is my boyfriend.”

 

“Well why didn’t you tell me you were dating Rene’s boy!? Any family of Rene’s is family of mine!” He turned back to Antoine and smiled. “You seem like a wonderful young man. Continue to treat my granddaughter well.” Turning back to Kyoya after he was finished embarrassing Antoine, Edmond raised his voice jovially once more. “Now, Kyoya. Where is my beautiful daughter. I believe I have to walk her down the aisle in -” he looked down at his watch “- well fifteen minutes now.”

 

“Well, as per tradition, I’m not allowed to see her until the ceremony. So Zoe will have to take you to her. Coralie, I can show you and everyone else where you’ll be sitting in the meantime.” 

 

Zoe grabbed onto her grandfather’s hand and directed him towards Samantha’s temporary room. “This way, Pépé. Maman is going to be so excited to see you! And her dress is absolutely beautiful.”

 

_ 5:50 PM _

 

A soft knock was heard at the door just as Hikaru put the last bobby pin in Samantha’s hair and started spraying hairspray on the beautiful bow shaped in her bright orange hair. Her hair was half up, the updo in the shape of a bow and the lower half in loose curls falling down her back. At the edge of her updo, her hair was in two small braids tied back to keep the bow in place. As Hikaru stepped back to admire his work (well his work with the help of two professional stylists), Isabella moved to open the door. Once the door was opened, Zoe stood in the doorway with her maternal grandfather and called out for her mother. “Mom - special delivery! I think you kinda need this to walk down the aisle.”

 

Samantha stood up and Natalia and Kaoru moved to adjust the dress to make sure it was properly fluffed as she turned around. Seeing the two people in front of her, her eyes widened and she almost started crying. “Sam, if you cry and ruin the makeup Kaoru and I spent hours perfecting, I’m gonna be pissed.”

 

Isabella rolled her eyes at her uncle’s statement and scoffed. “Hika, come on. First of all, you two had help. Second of all, you guys used setting spray and waterproof mascara so she’ll be fine. Like you can’t expect a person to not cry at their own wedding.”

 

Completely ignoring the conversation happening in the room, Samantha hurried over to her father and her daughter and pulled her father into a tight embrace. “Papa. I had no idea you were here! I didn’t think you’d be able to make it because of your health.”

 

Edmond hugged his daughter back and chuckled. “You really think I’d miss my own daughter’s wedding? Even if it is fifteen years overdue, I wouldn’t miss this for anything.” As the two pulled apart he laughed again and shrugged. “Also it helps that my wonderful son-in-law is wealthy enough to fly his in-laws and wife’s cousins to a wedding halfway across the world.”

 

“Wait, Marie and Marcus are here?”

 

Zoe chimed in from behind her grandfather. “ _ And  _ the triplets, Mom. We knew you wouldn’t want a big wedding so we only invited those closest to you and Dad.” 

 

Natalia gasped from the other side of the room and moved to pick up her purse. “We only have five minutes before everything is supposed to start! I think that’s our cue to get to our seats.”

 

Hikaru and Kaoru nodded at the same time, gathering their suit jackets from the bed. Hikaru picked up Niccola to take her with him, but she squirmed in his grasp and whined. “No, Daddy! I wanna stay with Sammy!” 

 

Hikaru held onto his daughter tight and tried to reason with her. “You’ll see Sammy later. She’s gotta get married now, Nik. And you’ll make Papa sad if you don’t sit with him.”

 

The five year old let out a high pitched squeal and latched onto her father’s neck. “No! Papa isn’t allowed to be sad. I wanna see Papa!” 

 

Zoe laughed at the child’s antics and nodded. “Well, I’ll take them to their seats.” Moving over to her mother, Zoe kissed her on the cheek and gave her a long hug. “I’ll see you out there, Mom. You look beautiful. Happy anniversary.”

 

Samantha hugged her daughter back and sighed contently. “Thank you, sweetheart. I’ll see you in a few minutes.”

 

“Alright everyone. Follow me.”

 

Once everyone was gone, Samantha turned back to her father and smiled. Edmond smiled back and grabbed his daughter’s hands. “I’m so proud of you, my sweet girl.”

 

“Thank you Papa. Though I’m sorry you had to wait so long to see me get married.”

 

Edmond shook his head and frowned. “None of that now. You know I’ve always approved of your relationship with Kyoya. How could I not? It is so clear how happy you two make each other. And you gave me two beautiful children, though Zoe was rather unconventional. I would have waited one-hundred years to see you have your fairytale wedding, Samantha. I’m just glad to see you happy with the man you love.”

 

Speechless and overflowing with joy, Samantha pulled her father into another long embrace and laughed. “Thank you, Papa. I love you so much.”

 

“I love you too, sweetheart.” He pulled away from his daughter and fixed the few strands of hair that moved from behind her shoulders to in front of them. “No, come on! Your husband is waiting to marry you again! We can’t keep him waiting, now can we?”

 

_ 6:05 PM  _

 

The ceremony began without a hitch. Everyone was seated where they should be. The air had cooled enough to be comfortable but not cold. It was clear that the sun was about to set as every guest looked over the horizon on the grassy cliff above Kyoya’s private beachfront in Okinawa. Everything was perfect. Nothing could be more perfect than the scene Kyoya was witnessing at that moment. 

 

Then he was proven wrong. All heads turned to the end of the white carpeted aisle as Samantha walked arm-in-arm with her father. Kyoya knew that sixteen years ago, when he had first met the love of his life, that she was the most beautiful person in the entire world. But he thought he had gotten used to being in the presence of her astounding beauty. But something about her in this moment. The pure joy on her face. How the makeup she was wearing perfectly accented her perfect freckles and button nose and heart-shaped mouth and breathtakingly blue eyes. How her hair fell perfectly down her back even though half of it was up in a bow so fitting to her personality. How the now setting sun made her hair flicker like a dazzling fire in the wind. Something about all of that made him feel like the breath was knocked from his lungs. 

 

But the dress. The dress was breathtaking in an entirely different way. He knew Samantha was beautiful. He knew her body was absolutely gorgeous - he had two kids with the woman, how could he not know. But he had no idea how perfect a dress could be on her. He loved when she wore dresses because she simply looked dazzling in every dress she wore. But something about the dress Zoe designed with Kaoru and Natalia for Samantha made him want to immortalize it in the most beautiful painting known to man. The floral lace of the sleeves and top accented the princess gown bottom beautifully, and the bits of floral lace embroidery lining the bottom of the gown made him appreciate craftsmanship in fashion more than he ever did before. His wife looked absolutely stunning, and Kyoya had no idea how to handle it.

 

Before he knew it, Samantha was standing in front of him and the ceremony had already reached the reading of the vows. He wanted to take in the entire moment as the sun started to sink beyond the horizon, but all he could was stare into the bright blue of Samantha Armelle Moreau-Ootori’s eyes. He was shocked out of his trance when she began to speak - Right. The vows. She was reciting her vows now. What were his vows?  _ Oh God  _ did he forget what to say? No. That’s impossible. He’s Kyoya Ootori. He practiced his vows over and over until they were ingrained in his head. But something about Samantha made him simply listen whenever she spoke. So that’s what he did. He listened.

 

“There is so much I want to say to you, Kyoya. So much love I want to express for you. But I know I have a lifetime for that. And I only had a night to write my vows-” the wedding guests chuckled at this - “so bare with me. For a long time, I truly believed that love wasn’t for me. With every bad relationship and through every bad breakup, I was sure it was God or the universe or fate telling me that I was meant to be alone. But then you came to Marseille and I, being the clumsy mess I am, bumped into you and broke your glasses. Everyone can tell that moment was a horrible first impression. But somehow it was the perfect first impression for you. Since that day, I learned to love. I began to think that love was really for me. You continuously swept me off my feet every time we were together. And even after all we had been through, after our long distance and secrecy, after our beautiful daughter was born - I never could have guessed that you would have proposed to me in a stuffy hospital room with tears in your eyes and an infant in my arms. And I most definitely would not have guessed we’d be having an official wedding fifteen years later. You always keep me on my toes, Kyoya Ootori, and I am so beyond ecstatic that I am blessed enough to spend the rest of my life with you. Thank you for loving me the way I love you. I love you so much.”

 

Sniffles could be heard from throughout the audience at Samantha’s heartfelt display of love and devotion. But Kyoya simply smiled at his wife through the tears in his eyes and spoke as calmly as he could before his emotions made it impossible to do so.

 

“I was never one to believe in the power of love. I knew love was real. I knew it existed. How could I not with a lovesick idiot like Tamaki constantly screaming about it in my ear?” A few chuckles could be heard throughout the guests at this. “But with as much love as I surrounded myself with, I never truly believed that love was something I could personally grasp. I honestly still don’t understand it. Samantha, before I met you, I was in a marriage of convenience. I married a woman I had no feelings for because my father advised it, and because I saw no logical flaw to marrying a woman I had no feelings for. I was set on living the rest of my life with a woman who truly meant nothing to me other than financial and familial gain. Love wasn’t important to me. But, after that marriage ended, I knew that I needed to find love - whatever that may be. I wasn’t sure I would ever find love until one fateful day, when a beautiful and clumsy Parisian in Marseille broke my favorite pair of glasses. Now my belief in love was shaky itself, let alone my belief in love at first sight. But when I met you, I couldn’t deny either existed. Somehow I was able to get the most beautiful, kind, intelligent, generous, hilarious woman to fall in love with me. I know have screwed up countless times in our relationship, from keeping our relationship secret for a year to getting you pregnant before we got married, but I hope to make up for it now. I know it’s been fifteen years since you took my last name, but I hope this is able to be the wedding of your dreams that you told me about so many years ago. Our two beautiful children and all of our amazing friends and family members made this possible, but I know that if it didn’t happen now, I would probably be stupid enough to never make this day a reality. And I’m sorry I made you wait so long for such an important day. You deserve the world, Samantha. I could not imagine a better way to spend our fifteen year anniversary than by standing in front of everyone we love and pledging to continue to love you in sickness and in health, and everything else, till death do us part. I love you so much Samantha. Forever and always.”

 

His voice faltered. It was barely noticeable, but she noticed. She looked into the eyes of the love of her life and saw the tears threatening to fall. Smiling, she rubbed her thumbs over his knuckles and the two of them were lost in each other. Kyoya and Samantha were in the trance of the moment and neither the emotional sniffles from the crowd or the priest’s words next to them could break that trance. It was a moment of love and commitment and happiness and nothing was going to ruin it. The two only broke the trance when they heard the words they’ve been waiting for for sixteen years. 

 

“Kyoya Ootori, do you take Samantha Moreau to be your lawful wedded wife, promising to love and cherish her, in sickness and in health, for richer for poorer, for better for worse, and forsaking all others, keep yourself only unto her, for so long as you both shall live?" 

 

“I do” The emotional strain in his voice was evident to everyone else by now. Kyoya did his best to maintain his composure as the priest repeated the words to Samantha.

 

“Samantha Moreau, do you take Kyoya Ootori to be your lawful wedded husband, promising to love and cherish him, in sickness and in health, for richer for poorer, for better for worse, and forsaking all others, keep yourself only unto him, for so long as you both shall live?"

 

Nodding before she spoke and letting tears fall freely, Samantha let out her shaky but confident reply. “I do.”

 

“Then by the power vested in me, I now pronounce you husband and wife - again. You may kiss the bride.”

 

Kyoya moved both of his hands to the sides of Samantha’s face as she draped her arms around his shoulders. The two then shared a slow, sweet, and passionate kiss, both letting their tears fall freely at this point. Cheers could be heard in the crowd as Samantha took Kyoya’s glasses off to deepen the kiss. Once the two finally broke the kiss, they leant their foreheads against the other and sighed contentedly. Kyoya was the first to speak up just barely above a whisper. 

 

He closed his eyes and placed Samantha’s hand in his own once more as he spoke, voice shaking with emotion. “I love you, Sam. So much.”

 

Samantha squeezed Kyoya’s hand and laughed through her tears. She kissed him once more and sighed. “I love you too. More than you could ever know.”

 

As the sun was finishing setting over the watery horizon, Samantha pulled away and wiped the tears off of her husband’s cheek with her free hand. Stopping abruptly at the sight of something familiar and comforting.

 

Kyoya looked at Samantha, confused, and slightly cocked his head. “What’s wrong?”

 

Brushing her hand over the side of Kyoya’s face, she laughed and smiled warmly at him. “Your eyes. They look purple.” Pulling Kyoya into another kiss, Samantha laughed and held her husband close. “It’s probably just a  trick of the light though. But I wasn’t lying when I said purple suits you.”

 

Kyoya laughed along with his wife and tilted her chin up to initiate another kiss.. “Oh shut up and kiss me.”

 

~

 

The reception lasted hours - well into the next morning. With friends and family gathered from all around the world, the festivities lit up the mansion and beach for what seemed like an eternity. Though the bride and groom thought the tears would be finished by the time the reception started, more tears were shed throughout the night.

 

From the heartfelt speeches given by the couple’s best friend ( _ Tamaki of course. What a hopeless romantic that man is. He even started crying himself. _ ) and their beautiful daughter ( _ Zoe insisted on having both her and Kazuto give speeches, but the younger Ootori child opted out, stating he didn’t want all eyes on him during his parents’ wedding.) _ -

 

{ _. . . to finally see my two closest friends - two of the most important people in my life - have their happily ever after brings me so much joy, I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to express it fully. I love the both of you so much, and I’m more than honored to share this incredibly touching moment with the two of you. . . _ }

 

{ _. . . I honestly never thought I’d get to say I helped plan my parents’ wedding. Especially since my parents were already married beforehand - But seeing you, Mom and Dad, so incredibly happy and in love made me feel so grateful that I grew up knowing what love looks like. I couldn’t ask for better parents - you two love and cherish each other as much as you love and cherish your children, so I just wanted to thank you. Thank you for being true in your love. . . _ }

 

-to the revealing of the first dance’s song-

_ “Hymne à l'amour, Kyoya?” _

 

_ Kyoya held his wife close and smiled as tears began to fall from her eyes once more. “It was the song playing at the cafe we had lunch at the day we met.” He kissed the top of her head and hummed along to the classic French love song before speaking up once more. “And if I remember correctly, you told me that you used to dance in the living room on your father’s toes to this song.” _

 

_ Samantha laughed and pulled Kyoya into a passionate kiss. “You’re incredible. I can’t believe you remembered that.” _

 

\- to the revelation that young love was on it’s way to the front lines.

 

_ “It seems like the next wedding we go to will be another one we have to plan and pay for.” Samantha whispered to Kyoya as they sat at their center table leaning against each other and watching their daughter and her boyfriend slow dance among the other couples. _

 

_ Kyoya sighed and leaned against his wife. Zoe and Antoine were only fifteen but there was no denying how infatuated they were with each other. Tears almost fell down his cheeks as he thought about his daughter getting married, but he quickly shook away the emotion and laughed. “Don’t say that too loud. Tamaki might have a heart attack.” _

 

Then, later that night, when everyone was in their hotels or rooms in the mansion, Kyoya and Samantha lay tangled sweaty and panting in their bed as the moon shone through the large windowpane. 

 

Kyoya, with his arms wrapped around Samantha’s middle and face buried in her shoulder, mumbled against his wife’s skin. “I love you so much.”

 

Samantha let out a sleepy laugh and ran her fingers through Kyoya’s hair. “I love you too, baby.”

 

As the two started to drift off to sleep, Kyoya woke up fully and got up with a start, placing his hands on either side of Samantha’s head to hold him up as he made eye contact with his startled wife. 

 

“Kyoya, babe, what’s wrong?”

 

“Did we forget to use protection?”

 

At Kyoya’s question, Samantha burst out in hysterical laughter and pulled Kyoya close again so that they were back in their previous positions. “Hun, I got my tubes tied after Kazuto was born, remember? You don’t have to worry about having any more kids. And we both know it’d be hard for me to get pregnant at this age.”

 

Kyoya sighed and kissed at Samantha’s neck as he held her tighter. “Nonsense. Twenty-seven is absolutely young enough to have children.”

 

“Kyoya we’re both turning forty-three this Fall.”

 

Still mumbling against Samantha’s skin, Kyoya smirked and laughed. “Well it sure as hell doesn’t feel like we’re getting old anytime soon.”

 

Kyoya moved up to kiss Sam passionately again, and Sam smirked against his lips. “That just means our honeymoon is going to be very exciting.”

 

In between breathless kisses, Kyoya spoke. “What honeymoon? We have two kids to take care of remember?”

 

Samantha moaned quietly as Kyoya’s kisses began to trek southward. “They can spend the week with Rene and Haruhi. Zoe and I already talked to them and they’re on board.”

 

Without stopping his trail of kisses and bites down his wife’s body, Kyoya hummed against her hip and smiled. “Well then we better start making the most of this week now.”

 

Samantha moaned and moved a hand to Kyoya’s hair. “Oh shut up and  _ fuck  _ me.”

 

Kyoya laughed loud and true, moving up to kiss Samantha on the lips before biting at her neck. “Your wish is my command, my beautiful wife..”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Again, sorry for the super long read. The next chapter won't be this gargantuan, I promise. Comments and kudos are appreciated. 
> 
> The next chapter should be coming out within the next month! And I'm happy to get back to writing for (myself) Hikaru and Chris and also Kaoru, Natalia, and Isabella - because, let's be real. we can't have one twin without at least thinking about the other so both families are the centerpieces for the next chapter. So, until next time- Chapter 4: Through Hell and Back


End file.
